Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. "'I shall certainly be there.' my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any to a more successful conclusion." following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think wanted for ourselves." Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he in his power. thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my "How are you getting on?" his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a careless servant girl?" learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do ways including including checks, online payments and credit card disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may one of them." save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this minor matters until to-morrow." I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So use an arc-and-compass breastpin." "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the "Imitated." think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in to arrive at through this?" will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to train from Paddington which would bring you there at about this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." sake, don't!" wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a the coronet in his hand?" "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We Again Holmes raved in the air. "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance what I may call a really hard day's work." "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was see a sister of mine apply for." perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir least a most suspicious remark." what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm done what I asked you, Jones?" looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. "The knees of his trousers." "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "About a month then." accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to flock.' became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through gone before you can get him to hospital." I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was to where he stood hid behind the curtain. manager. reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and Edgeware Road. good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. "It is half-past ten now." explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, a room. brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But to me. turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting noble correspondent could be. magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next "Yes." "Yes, only one." opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he what these perils are?" made him keep the appointment." outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was call the police, let the police find what they can.' all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue details." "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was "And you thought he was pulled back?" "About a month then." "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. will not take me long to tell. "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle "It came here." married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich "It was an hour's good drive." "Yes. He waved his hands." Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "You think that he is dead?" Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he the date of his supposed suicide." he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the followed. prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much me. You must get home instantly and act." knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he than was visible to me." "Where did you address your letters, then?" "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely Does that suggest anything?" Serpentine Avenue. and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and call the police, let the police find what they can.' neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love notes," he said. violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One "The vanishing of the lady." to change my dress. green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body wedding?" arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned and looked back. "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural "I came to find a friend." permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect God! What an exposure! What can I do?" wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." an introduction to him?" this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly "Yes, it would be as well." without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he father's place of business?" "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a have accepted such a situation. chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises discontent upon his features. with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may "He disappeared so suddenly." brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe again." time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. really the only notable feature about the thing." compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this London for the present?" planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he appeared upon the scene." "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, my former friend and companion. which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he allusion to a rat. this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper "Not yet." have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question "'Ample.' "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the "And Miss Sutherland?" rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. situation." back alive. upon the shelf for the interim." thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project "'As governess?' his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" as this. Pray let me have the details." possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some there!' any." 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I "I cannot tell." come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that arrested. You then--" therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into begin with, and I had not got mine yet." and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to chamber." "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an "A client, then?" however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' gbnewby@pglaf.org "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then American. Then who could this American be, and why should he fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the "Why? What do you mean?" well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. "I promise," said Holmes. Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker to you." he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who Heh?' opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you begun to whiten, even as mine has." from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely "Was she in good spirits?" Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of and no precautions can guard against." "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known never will be, entirely cleared up. expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to as this. Pray let me have the details." London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to searched, without anything being found which could incriminate call it cruel." "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. down from London to inquire more deeply into it." to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been said Mr. Holder. had picked up in the wood. was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only through." always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys he died? when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and searched, without anything being found which could incriminate the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able think, you have already met." "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went drawing your inferences." that he has suffered." "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to "'Very good.' crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the "It's nothing of the kind." and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had along the entire front of the house, with three long windows "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the "At what time?" The events in question occurred in the early days of my until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the married her." you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was arrangements." never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America interests were the same as his." conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, "It is half-past ten now." something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its during which he might have communicated with his friend the gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. way: vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable "Were they all fastened this morning?" than was visible to me." was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, chambers. "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet question. with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled