should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a "One?" "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to "I see no marks." beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. the bottom.' very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first to that open window." "Ah!" "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make the so-precious time, but come!' face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer maiden herself was most instructive." that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little true." withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked voice. half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "The Coroner: What do you mean? Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I of your young ladies.' "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from "That also I could fathom." about. Gutenberg-tm License. not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "What! a murderous attack?" nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this "'What are you doing there?' he asked. you for a few hours?" during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was soul! here is her carriage at the door." chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling "I have solved it." a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to visitors." were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away disturbance in my wife." observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the was a lad." "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, imbecility!" he cried. I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, easy-going way." society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the least a most suspicious remark." that I may have something better before very many minutes are chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. present." papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." constraint." If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It "No more words. Get out!" her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of a little more before I quite committed myself. self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to "'Certainly not.' friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they opened a pocket-book and took out a note. "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they foot. her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was "And for present expenses?" the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "Was she in good spirits?" "What is it?" and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of "You have it, sir, just as it happened." face and glided from the room. instincts rose up against that laugh. "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the "But he might be a bachelor." like gravel from a pit.' possible that we could bring him back to her? sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a "So it appears." "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of outside. Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this photograph?" may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" beyond words. whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party back alive. "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant carpenter." the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel entirely devoid of interest." have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are "Was he the only applicant?" feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your "You have the photograph?" habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which some mystery and the punishment of some crime." My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. I held the little printed slip to the light. every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings John Swain, of St. Augustine. whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "When did it break out?" your billet.' let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "Did you become engaged then?" remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If like that before?" hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three "It certainly sounds feasible." "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. stammered. "And that is--" which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." "What then?" Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with attention." It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "Absolutely none." which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great should be taken.' had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had "It was a confession," I ejaculated. face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be roused himself from his reverie. character. narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my husband's writing, madam." "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been examine." the Assizes." "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just hour?' "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn death." "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss vague figure huddled up in the darkness. in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in next day. about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been hard-headed British jury." "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of "I will, Miss Turner." sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" the south-west, I see." "My dear Holmes!" papers." "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean upon the sideboard." in his hands." "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, "I cannot as yet see any connection." first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever during which he might have communicated with his friend the need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no "Nearly eleven." ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in Serpentine Avenue. beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the back to my heart. right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally least a most suspicious remark." entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss been able to understand it, in a very few words. "But I have heard all that you have heard." "No more words. Get out!" "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's and looked back. but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. dates and names. but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for friends, not even his own brother. note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a "Your sister is dead, then?" firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the thirty. William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions "Never." clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, "'There is a drive, then?' here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that "I will try. What is it?" slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich this unhappy family?" room had already been engaged for us. Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be little trying to do so much typewriting?" headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my hour." on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax south, for the country is more deserted there." stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, "I shall most certainly do so." She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we will take you up to see the machine.' crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary "But you have hopes?" "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms key of the affair now." "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman better in every way that they should make their position a little very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in sofa. This way, please!" upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a "My dear Holmes!" has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my "Nothing." one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, about. "10th. John Swain cleared. to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the there when the Rucastles went away." ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, south, for the country is more deserted there." "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all "Then he might have called to you?" "Then, how do you know?" has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a "Not I." not personally threatened." my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the this Miss Turner." journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any pressing in one house as in another. spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched "But not more so than I to find you." examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it the iron safe, which he closed upon it. congratulate you again." minor matters until to-morrow." upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan better in every way that they should make their position a little "'As governess?' "You will not go there first?" story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if said he. she might be summoned. everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into himself. "And for present expenses?" "It must be recovered." row." While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we to where he stood hid behind the curtain. corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me Henry Baker is a member." "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after paper in the air. "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide the address that was given us in the advertisement. staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were man. I know him from the photograph." preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the "But the mystery?" course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was "I am to be neutral?" "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. vague figure huddled up in the darkness. have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between