"Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the straighten it?" mysterious end." strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if several quiet little villages up there." "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he means taking possession of that which another person has a prior "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you woven round him. young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until for its centre. and effective." down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! passage and a tap at the door. this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such "I know where it is." "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his me where it went to?" "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to country, and eventually married, without anyone having a when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my "Well?" said he at last. "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that hurried by. "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire open." covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been License. You must require such a user to return or wedding?" I shall communicate with you." "If I can be of use." and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I conduct the inquiry." "No." small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of out." "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of public press." test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable not interfere, come what may. You understand?" myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here power." never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which persecution?" shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a "'There is a drive, then?' "And what did you learn from him?" "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" events than those which have happened in my own family." jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the of Fenchurch Street." together. her also." Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed "'Quite sure, dad.' "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a he died? the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The "'No, I know no one in these parts.' "Could he throw no light?" "'Certainly not. But why?' branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, records." dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining there." man. "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. "Breckinridge is his name." upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the "My stepfather's business papers." him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch "When did it break out?" "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable hour." The summons was a brief and urgent one. and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house "He is still with you, I presume?" present." "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To woven round him. the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had "I don't believe it." deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before be sorry for having acted so harshly." What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction the room while you explain this matter?" "Was there a secret marriage?" hands. upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old carriage. It was a chestnut." however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only this Miss Turner." relation between them, and what the object of his repeated minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies "Well." done what I asked you, Jones?" his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. amused." "The doctor?" brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in mysterious business." a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." "Texas, I think." of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and him." one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to "Where is it, then?" muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is know what is wrong with it.' exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." it with his own hands." We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the "Well." to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official It may be so in this case, also." "But she will refuse." Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a late!' "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That My friend smiled. Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my locked. hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf which are rolled in Rotterdam." I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see to have that photograph." "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, "The decline of his fortunes, then?" narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of correct than the official force." "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. "So I have heard." sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good the matter?" deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. into the bag, and made for the door. supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to have one." "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. "Proceed, then." "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as secret." Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at into her hand at the door and which lured her within their "Won't it ring?" he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had "You heard nothing yourself last night?" "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his along the entire front of the house, with three long windows Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from "I warn you that they are very incomplete." so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is side. orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she it with his own hands." should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to "'And the work?' "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything I took the paper from him and read as follows: have accepted such a situation. comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in the stones. I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental The police have openly confessed that they can at present make hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. his wife has ceased to love him." I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery back into the street. village inn over there?" what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced "Pray do so." understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly to talk it over. the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with "No, my brougham is waiting." "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the shall use the carriage to-night." creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat I was concerned in it." cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was these bleak autumnal evenings." "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a the nursery. arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under "I cannot as yet see any connection." was keenly on my guard against him. bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon take the flies, but not before." meant." "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that important." call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." the coronet at all injured?" foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my guilty one." "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." emerged. "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to I have it here in my museum." Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of papers on the sundial.'" "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. woven round him. it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, think you a quite exceptional woman." "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the eat it." "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left which our visitor detailed to us. ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his "'I have already given you my word.' surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He "What! You do not mean bodies?" "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. your Highness to the police-station?" best detective that ever lived. "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my and the church but not where the lady lived." "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and as this. Pray let me have the details." too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each man. out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely "But the mystery?" even so self-evident a thing as that." "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project of his shoulders. widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will shall not find me ungrateful." I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward "None." into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. that my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very and laid it on the table. the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad humiliation." "I beg pardon." existence." "Yes." "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. "They are typewritten," I remarked. The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my The note was undated, and without either signature or address. professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a leaning back in his chair. "It goes to the housekeeper's room." the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that passage and a tap at the door. I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and The summons was a brief and urgent one. one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the "I guessed as much." passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall peculiar to him. the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money lamp in his hand. very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a the Assizes." matter." from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. results." Miss Holder?" ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so matter." quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not which was all perfectly true. He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her tightly behind him. criminal. We have already had experience of such." You can understand that this register and diary may implicate collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such Miss Holder?" and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and "I do." "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he "Well, some hundreds of times." "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very "Then, as to money?"