Eyford." I. stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" "On the contrary, this is the right side." had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our advice." "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, But Holmes shook his head gravely. "The King of Scandinavia." property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of written. moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, "But how?" "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same "Tired-looking or fresh?" "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the I was concerned in it." likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the "Oh, yes, easily." works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a me upon any point which I do not make clear." and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. was used.' pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular and looked back. inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or "My opinion is in no way altered." stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot upon the white wrist. gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads populous neighbourhood." he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. putting in the horse. the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps evidence," I remarked. living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me served to weaken the effect. of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was it right.' a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and least a most suspicious remark." nice household for a young lady." latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, "That sounds a little paradoxical." about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There asked. There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of it with his own hands." lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." "'Yes, it was gone.' which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed disappearance of these gems?" with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little "BALLARAT." having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "Has he come with you to-night?" "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" the loss of it. window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped "My opinion is in no way altered." the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is make me his representative both with the servants and with the "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when once more on the important position which you have been fortunate very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four shall use the carriage to-night." dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, may never be exposed to such a temptation." "Was the window open?" "'Which dealer's?' "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other chair. both be extremely obliged.' a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your "Could he throw no light?" Foundation known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, if only as a check to my own memory." prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the desk. said I. pierced for earrings?" suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem from you?" you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a definite end. constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I presume?" drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. eavesdroppers?' might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us fishes. fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I politicians who had been sent down from the North. certainly do as you advise." "But not more so than I to find you." disappearance of the bride.'" is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the not personally threatened." right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a said I. "What of the rat, then?" and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." "Yes, sir." "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached your bag." "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless wall." inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I acted in my house last night?" were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. "I am following you closely," I answered. prison!" The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it "Murdered?" answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. "Where is it, then?" of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the visitors." Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. "One of his hands." "But who is he?" house for five minutes.' Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce Holmes." and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, "Where, then?" In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the suddenly upon us." did not hear it also.' "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still congratulate you again." "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a figure." when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never was shining brightly. suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most "I cannot tell." We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short "Witness: It was. the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite which I could not give. He asked for Alice. "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the bed dies. Does not that strike you?" appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would ready to-morrow?' Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs During two years I have had three consultations and one small since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought conduct the inquiry." Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said are windows in it, of course?" "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled anything to a woman, for she would have her way." usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith joking. piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband cheerful." air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior "'I am sure that I do not know.' a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried forehead. house for five minutes.' from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and "9th. McCauley cleared. was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." interest. They are important, you understand, without being spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My "Then how many are there?" "Your sister is dead, then?" foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. "Game for a morning drive?" return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to "I see no marks." "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp conduct the inquiry." possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of learned something! Where are the gems?" side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. "They are typewritten," I remarked. of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no evidence," I remarked. is acting for the best. Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much "That is also quite modern," said the lady. adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked sake, don't!" India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in unclasping of his long thin hands. an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and suddenly upon us." "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of "Certainly." though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a "Frequently." The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen presented which may be striking and bizarre without being "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' are, and they are waiting for us." "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, Street. "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell that?' "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "So it appears." cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock make me his representative both with the servants and with the to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "Yes." front of the hall door has given its name to the place. and shall probably return to London by the evening train." grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a yards of it?' had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting "I would give my fortune to have them back." up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, when your master had gone out." skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I "ARAT," I read. loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce in the port of London." relief. from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. it. "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he the Assizes." "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears know what is wrong with it.' pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' "It is possible." determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always "I came to find a friend." "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making "You have but to name it." "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not union?" memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly writing, and yet I know it well." lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the long narrative. you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the use an arc-and-compass breastpin." surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that his huge brown hands. "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious of them has the shutters up.' had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net "BALLARAT." "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to "My own seal." "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was "Well, but China?" excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the occupations.' presented more singular features than that which was associated foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly completely overtopped every other consideration that we both the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for "Nor running a chance of arrest?" and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of "Never." were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense