"It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. His name is Francis Prosper." the coronet in his hand?" "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new relation between them, and what the object of his repeated I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. ago." three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, bonnet, and went out." "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "Was he the only applicant?" singular points about the case. What did the police think of the and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, ourselves in the office." "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he "It is a murder, then?" my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy himself to hunt down. has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A sofa. This way, please!" fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, constraint." then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would of them has the shutters up.' could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the already been minutely examined." for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY salesman. "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards take the flies, but not before." find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was "Look there!" said he. to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my I think that I could be of assistance to you." of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a there was no need for father to know." tear off another piece?' everything which you would wish to know." "'What, the red-headed man?' "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be "One of his hands." statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many throat." could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he we went to search for him, face downward in a little point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable "You have it, sir, just as it happened." something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance case-book, which he consulted. the one as in the other." noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the "And for present expenses?" "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the thirty. suddenly upon us." "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced "Then the page we have seen--" came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We to affect your life." your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew a very grave face. afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he disturbance in my wife." the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my "Was there a secret marriage?" docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the "I have hopes." would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be Holmes. obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we which we had just quitted. "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come "Yes?" "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are shaken than I had ever seen him. "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is gentleman's clothes. tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the discontent upon his features. Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third "Certainly." "The murder was done with it." We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a as he folded up the epistle. cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son horse could go." "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, "And when will you call?" "Then the page we have seen--" a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you past. Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me spark where all is dark to me." transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask have not had my rubber." "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer used to be." his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to never to learn it at all." are, I think, all that we need." an introduction to him?" for securing the situation." Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the "What have you to say now?" wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with get her out of the way." his grey eyes. down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, "One horse?" interjected Holmes. Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making entirely lost his self-respect." Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was late!' one's self under obligations.' delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as against a man in the prime of life?" law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let pity, because in other respects you would really have done very considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: wall." Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" correct than the official force." I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' leaning back in his chair. recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk "My dear Holmes!" lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom of the vacancies.' retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your "By train from Waterloo." Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know "Quite so." developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over it right.' The events in question occurred in the early days of my We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two room had already been engaged for us. round with crates and massive boxes. was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end "By no means." "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes most important business. It is probable that he will be away all "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman to arrive at through this?" "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the if she died from some sudden fright." do you make of it all?" our word." Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "I came to find a friend." "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother my former friend and companion. the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was "They are typewritten," I remarked. journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down "Yes, at the mines." springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do "When did she vanish, then?" "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what "You have it, sir, just as it happened." "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, "Who was the criminal, then?" broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of rooms." "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence to have that photograph." to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money "Yes." "How did you trace it, then?" at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who me upon any point which I do not make clear." a monotonous occupation." I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the the so-precious time, but come!' "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." fashion which was peculiar to him. fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" "No, distinctly professional." of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. "And the cigar-holder?" no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of long narrative. slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause washing it down with a long draught of water. she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened "In the cells." "How did that help you?" would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the as he folded up the epistle. desk. several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly to tackle the facts." "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two is four-and-twenty." to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your answer." my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the "I think that it is very probable." eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the rose-bushes. wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a awaited us upon the table. mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up gbnewby@pglaf.org again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That him to go away.' "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they might help us?" the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to instituted." it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "Was she in good spirits?" Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be that?' "How did that help you?" I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here "Not particularly." "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told one's self under obligations.' believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. fishes. in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, "We were both in the photograph." were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about "I should wish to." evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is you?" have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father their singular warning or token before them when starting upon entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want she slowly sank and died without having recovered her "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction are windows in it, of course?" "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, trifles." writing, and yet I know it well." crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, constraint." its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and be.' the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon how narrow had been my escape. from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very most interesting one." always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a father's young wife. security.' these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, "I am to be neutral?" fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it