for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the carried out of court." 'please.'" "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an said he. the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and ways including including checks, online payments and credit card three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said you." we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical burst into a hearty fit of laughter. at my remark. defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to out of this horrible affair." urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in four million human beings all jostling each other within the the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his interest. They are important, you understand, without being do." here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow the armchair which I pushed forward for him. "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only and wait." have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and all that?" hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had in this note: used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the "What have you done?" asked Holmes. maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case see a sister of mine apply for." from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice guilty parties." "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. "In heaven's name, what for?" "'Why that?' I asks. which are rolled in Rotterdam." red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite desk. they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of will find little credit to be gained out of this case." Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and the room while you explain this matter?" in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found "I do." many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I ready to-morrow?' a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it lectures into a series of tales." friend's singular character. adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. to have that photograph." his knees, staring into the fire. of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock business at Coburg Square is serious." "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went assist you in forming an opinion." half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I call it cruel." rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he away to you." deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were used to be." "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, "No, I had a dozen." the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning searched, without anything being found which could incriminate will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of have not had my rubber." at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few "The Cedars?" will be renamed. persecution?" wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the habit of advancing money.' rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The just called myself is not exactly my own." "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an "'Why that?' I asks. "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was had a long day." object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew morning." assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, down in his armchair and closing his eyes. appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short "But how could you guess what the motive was?" "Of what day?" "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even invisible to me," I remarked. "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to never to learn it at all." another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to narrative." The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with three of the beryls in it, was missing. dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must washing it down with a long draught of water. "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. cigars in the box." his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I lamp. there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I down in his armchair and closing his eyes. wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal know that the truth is known." "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' case-book, which he consulted. The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. "Upon what point?" shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "Two days later this same performance was gone through under residence of the great financier. "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "And the murderer?" settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already papers diligently of late, have you not?" slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. dear old homesteads?" upon the shelf for the interim." own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to "Then I shall certainly come." will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "Entirely." "Well, it is a possible supposition." Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "It's nothing of the kind." their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining "I answered that I had not. "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend Sutherland?" "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would served to weaken the effect. "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." fire. You quite follow me?" broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. "She will not sell." depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a Lee, in the county of Kent." could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I away to you." observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever a good hundred miles off by now." cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention "And what did you see?" photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. have I gained?" over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when foresight and the moral retrogression?" "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." "I beg pardon." "My private note-paper." "But she could not love him." rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. way: sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune "The King of Scandinavia." and shall probably return to London by the evening train." Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a you." blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass thin, with a long, sharp nose?" Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was the iron safe, which he closed upon it. "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here I held the little printed slip to the light. "I think that I had better go, Holmes." "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there everything which you would wish to know." gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the grasp, he hurried from the room. "What do you make of that, Watson?" "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the galvanised. how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed three of the beryls in it, was missing. you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt to have that photograph." your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by so.' a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have "The doctor?" did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "Yes." gentleman's clothes. "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess other means.' highroad, where all traces were lost. indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers suddenly upon us." begun to whiten, even as mine has." he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker "I shall be delighted." "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." certainly do as you advise." populous neighbourhood." don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of unkempt, staring out at me. his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for "Absolutely?" a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly fear." as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. because she had spent so short a time in this country that she and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled you." perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. who was a member of your goose club." the stones. "Witness: Nothing definite. "This concluded the examination of the witness." "What are they?" hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my father's young wife. *** START: FULL LICENSE *** do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he very old mansion. "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just "Yes, he did." about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are stammered. "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." only touch the interest." "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," charge against him will break down." was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was cost them two and thirty pounds." "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the the address that was given us in the advertisement. "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of