all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning locked." Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" conversation I have gathered that they have been married about Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and if only as a check to my own memory." other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back "Certainly." stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock to have that photograph." adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and me. of them has the shutters up.' asked with his eyes open. "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport politicians who had been sent down from the North. exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of less than 26s. 4d. a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had in him." balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man we went to search for him, face downward in a little in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a "How can you tell that?" determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was "'Where could I find him?' every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, "My photograph." "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back "'What are you doing there?' he asked. providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the way in." received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal "I have come for advice." true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the despaired of." still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite back alive. registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" entirely lost his self-respect." the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he "I will do it." "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were "Why, what do you mean?" wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! searched, without anything being found which could incriminate finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was "Never." note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me not as remarkable as your advertisement." know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly "Eh? What was that?" opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main you." Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant remarked. "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My crowd. ordinary clothes on?" "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which and the whole place is in a blaze." the matter." "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said promised to bring home. it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out "No, I had a dozen." my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "That also I could fathom." "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the "Where is it, then?" you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you works. See paragraph 1.E below. by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a have had none more fantastic than this." dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. because she had spent so short a time in this country that she "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey felt?" "I cannot think." "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative case before our client came into the room." was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and "Awake, Watson?" he asked. present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property again, where I was soon asleep. "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my lids now and glanced across at his visitor. "Nor running a chance of arrest?" begun to whiten, even as mine has." who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a is a common subject for conversation. "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the points in connection with it which never have been, and probably the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies awkward doing business with an alias." consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens have been better. It is all right." finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we "It was an hour's good drive." or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, recover the gem." them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of this truth that in these little records of our cases which you there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City "Did your wife hear all this?" pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do occupations.' "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I really the only notable feature about the thing." "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that daring than any effort of the imagination." "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer "So I have heard." gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a the one as in the other." and glanced through. "Is he quiet?" villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up most interesting one." what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I "Do you know him?" had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "Yes." and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired "From his hat?" friends, not even his own brother. affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that spark where all is dark to me." with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely "How long did she speak to this Alice?" "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to since then to throw any light upon what became of him." zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what go back?" He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." "What steps will you take?" I asked. possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" address. been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had retorted upon me, and I on you." "What is it, then--a fire?" this poor creature." delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; one of the states of the Union." "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew would then never go into court at all." 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, "And sit in the dark?" He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may all?" "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be when you have done it." it." had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. is," said he presently: "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture said he. of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your hopeless attempt at recovering them." quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of have got?" but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, is now desirous of getting those letters back." hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of "She showed me, as I told you she would." "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower what these perils are?" was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate British peeress.'" thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from The police have openly confessed that they can at present make least a most suspicious remark." your most interesting statement." as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not is a common subject for conversation. office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and conduct the inquiry." You can understand that this register and diary may implicate pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea discontent upon his features. "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in populous neighbourhood." light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in when your master had gone out." and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our "I cannot imagine." his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." and wait." For additional contact information: "I never have." desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, "But his left-handedness." building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, brandy and water within his reach. attention." erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my "'Is purely nominal.' previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she to tell." so.' miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good chamber." folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my with frightened eyes at his accuser. explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you strength." happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year "An accident, I presume?" us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "And the murderer?" forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a mystery may be cleared along those lines." that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a individual and becomes the badge of a society." come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been Sholtos." man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," my former friend and companion. trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a "Nearly eleven." been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've looking up at the numbers of the houses." every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. confronted him. your only hope of safety." wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "'Oh, no.' remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, this as likely?" ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this "It is possible." her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' "Where is it, then?" all?" exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we ashen face. disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the "This photograph!" "Dark enough and sinister enough." my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional she slowly sank and died without having recovered her "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "I see no marks." could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. be. The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must "He is dead," cried several voices. reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a "I would give my fortune to have them back." You want to know what became of those geese?" assist you in forming an opinion." including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business never came back." "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not "I say it is." think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do nothing with him." resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in