have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was yet." some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic papers must be those that are destroyed.' "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been house for five minutes.' "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very annoyance, but no jest. eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the that there was nothing in it, after all." music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. had this final quarrel? lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in fluttered off among the others. with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about colonel looking down at me. up this clue while it is still hot." impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "It missed him, then?" "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the "From his hat?" certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for "No, I had a dozen." Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice introspective fashion. time." nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of "And the murderer?" for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you business." "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing beg that you will break it off." they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And "The King of Scandinavia." Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both wanted for ourselves." "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my look dissatisfied." adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the "No, finished." suspect him." exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project anything to do with the matter?" "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant so.' found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. "How can you tell that?" best detective that ever lived. Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. there has been an enclosure here!" and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. happened." said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I interests were the same as his." time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered really the only notable feature about the thing." room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making do you make of it all?" "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." just ask you whether you had heard it.' "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. "How often?" about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new everything which you would wish to know." strode off upon his way. "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was "Yes." "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "10th. John Swain cleared. dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom point our research must commence, and we will begin it by Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater bell. Holmes whistled. believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE The police have openly confessed that they can at present make were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking "She showed me, as I told you she would." phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One window when the police appeared." man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. thin, with a long, sharp nose?" what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock who was a member of your goose club." as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. From what you have told me I think that it is possible that for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black "And it is--" "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the "How many? I don't know." unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up "Nearly eleven." over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I writing, and yet I know it well." green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the hereditary King of Bohemia." suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may DISSOLVED. manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue my little problems." 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I you." little adventures." "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right were wasted." received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his Mary, has deserted me." his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to galvanised. "'And the work?' breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my walking." that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! weigh very heavily upon my conscience." father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you Arthur Conan Doyle flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." awaited us upon the table. "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" lost his Christmas dinner." interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with said I. I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the "What is it, then--a fire?" something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. confronted him. struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is tell him that I know him to be innocent." breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to than to us. lumber-room." "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles "Not yet." had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. time." http://gutenberg.net/license). "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." "Precisely so. But how--" Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll it means?" Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad problems help me to do so." "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he directly by questioning you." tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining tightly behind him. glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and "How did you deduce the select?" "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in Street. that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that McCarthy's innocence. Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some "Yes." Mary, has deserted me." away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the papers." the Friday. Was it to be in church?" "She told me to ask you." each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the some terrible trap for her." "At half-wages, in fact." pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads when your master had gone out." Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight "Certainly, madam." "One of the highest in England." "Has he come with you to-night?" and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under locked. so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the "But your client--" of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." "Now, then, what's the last entry?" "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." outside." "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may strong and stiff." entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." name is different." and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." "'Ample.' to change my dress. the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of I leave." I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy head. So long, then!" stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and "Ten will be early enough." of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after have not had my rubber." overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much with the outside air!" "Well, some hundreds of times." Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and "Perfectly so." his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it been deceived." used to be." "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the recall any case within my experience which looked at the first "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my you?" forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal extraordinary contortions. "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" had a long day." since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said "Yes, all." should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled I shall communicate with you." I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the vault. International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love been shamefully used." age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the galvanised. "That is not always so easy." "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as people don't know." yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for "I am all attention, madam." with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to weighed down with some great anxiety. willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey mysterious end." Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I to-night's adventure." about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely this unhappy family?" about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than instincts rose up against that laugh. written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was swore that no one else had been in the front room during the uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man against a man in the prime of life?" possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered introspective fashion. "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and opened the door, and slipped through. "Your presence might be invaluable." madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "Will you go?" decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the "I guessed as much." brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the "I know where it is." through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" I held the little printed slip to the light. yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold "If I can be of use." "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered the running down." had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house "Never." "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice