business." see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the said I. "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind plantation.' "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small served to weaken the effect. Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. this remarkable episode. "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a is a common subject for conversation. "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "No legal papers or certificates?" silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most depend upon my doing so.' dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly the bottom.' "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a see a sister of mine apply for." have accepted such a situation. upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened was a lad." Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to chill to my heart. more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official "To an English lawyer named Norton." least a most suspicious remark." prepare for the new role I have to play." for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. "Precisely." "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across front of the hall door has given its name to the place. "It came here." "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure His name is Francis Prosper." "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at "It is very clear." customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." "Pray continue your narrative." see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter "It may not come to that," said Holmes. "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil went to the Alpha were town bred." and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will "What?" in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter was shining brightly. reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no not as remarkable as your advertisement." "Yes." very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set when your master had gone out." again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached papers diligently of late, have you not?" at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you an introduction to him?" "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which "I should wish to." top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a written. uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and "What! Had he lost his wife?" "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. and inquire as to the address." "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive "You saw the ventilator, too?" "Yes." "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you Sutherland?" disturbance in my wife." "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "Yes, there are nearly always some there." time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he in darkness. prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the that the gas is not laid on in his house?" "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring "Then he might have called to you?" "In the cells." his fortune, and I went back to pa. utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock test if we have an answer to our advertisement." "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom "No sign of it?" she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was that he has suffered." you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, way in everything. in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman recover the gem." determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now "Bought." Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in "And your mother is alive?" skylight. benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have "And you thought he was pulled back?" "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! and prosperity to your house. Good-night." "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate leave you to your papers for a little." go back?" of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight "Your French gold?" to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both "Was she in good spirits?" in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment business in the City. She little knew what. and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, he died? "Where, indeed?" cigar and let me expound." Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will "And Miss Sutherland?" "Where did you address your letters, then?" Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss breakfast and whispered something to her husband. respectable self." "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called "A call for help, you thought?" other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he newspaper selections." middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore "One?" strong reason behind." "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman not, dad?" she asked. Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't matter." We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and Project Gutenberg-tm works. If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. to his chemical studies. difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case troubles have been weighing upon his mind. back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. "That sounds a little paradoxical." his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the which was all perfectly true. "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." thin, with a long, sharp nose?" there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in yards of it?' "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of and laid it on the table. agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. "No, my brougham is waiting." "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before "My dear Holmes!" wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this strength of mind to control. permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. disappearance of these gems?" the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every asked with his eyes open. bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across that gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door she to prove their authenticity?" "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in back to my heart. "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself pierced for earrings?" only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you drawing your inferences." promised to bring home. in the port of London." dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first question," said Holmes, smiling. had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he to tackle the facts." hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said through." housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's Edgeware Road. "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I "So I am. Very much so." events than those which have happened in my own family." and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked helping a boy to put up the shutters. and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. Have you good authority for what you say?" nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, politicians who had been sent down from the North. "The gentleman I describe." "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks "It was." on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." success. are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden furiously. him." commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few sofa. This way, please!" "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. "How long did she speak to this Alice?" it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who the child." is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, correct than the official force." Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to behind me. forbidden door. passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent them, and came down just as you departed. "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have in a friendly supper." conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've main points of my analysis." instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of fact, we may call it conclusive." story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. "And how have you succeeded?" vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of "By no means." him!" against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of since then to throw any light upon what became of him." here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my showing my impatience. more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some "The rest you will leave in our hands." itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner works. See paragraph 1.E below. house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and begin with, and I had not got mine yet." fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all papers on the sundial.'" them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the house for five minutes.' This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen in the hope of finding them." it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in strong and stiff." out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover written. of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is "You have carte blanche." "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method heavily into it. "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting before the coroner and the police-court." and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal "And you don't know his address?" dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you carpenter." was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of Where does the thing come from?' naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there "'What would be the hours?' I asked. wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a "Yes." chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, forehead. back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We could not have written that. It is the German who is so "But of what society?" "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, at my remark. towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish knowledge of the world." ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my Street. stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. answered with a sidelong glance. way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the impression behind it as though a window had gently closed jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "None." and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, "Because he was handy and would come cheap." reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you "But she could not love him." quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too lamp in his hand. feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush speckled band?" "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face Dr. Gregory B. Newby consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish "Not him." opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. "But you can know nothing of this?" which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be standing smiling on the door-step. old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as noting anything else of interest. *** START: FULL LICENSE *** "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she.