"Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought bearing upon the case." shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, weapon." his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. "Did your wife hear all this?" "What steps will you take?" I asked. be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in appeal." Holmes' face clouded over. Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the shoulder; "he's all right." the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" foresight and the moral retrogression?" little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would appeal." locked. as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan careless servant girl?" which it had come upon my father." their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, redistribution. dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely "'Never.' "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "It looks newer than the other things?" business came to an end." "At what time?" British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed ran thus: compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out The police have openly confessed that they can at present make "Well." battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg "You know me, then?" that he has suffered." of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, locked." case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the in your London, you will know that the office of the company is which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with way: "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, "The King of Scandinavia." found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open again before evening." c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low bearing upon the case." "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." and a shock of very red hair. "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few "'No, I know no one in these parts.' "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible occurred." may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other Street. "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the "And how?" "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "Well, but China?" appeal." "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in chill to my heart. I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in such attractions and accomplishments?' drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived your troubles." fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me "'Ample.' with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang "I have a cab outside." was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, "That is possible." fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune "Which surely he restored to their owner?" opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to you for a few hours?" "And why in hopes?" explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it "It surprised me." to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my read over the extraordinary announcement. sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature be best to do. "My Mary? Impossible!" shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are were wasted." are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the anything to a woman, for she would have her way." wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered Gutenberg-tm License. imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in "Yes." "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free "And I." very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. new acquaintance to Baker Street. Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet himself to hunt down. "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged dates and names. he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in locked." sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to "And is that all?" and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt "At what time?" "It must be recovered." "'Yes, sir.' "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock "Why serious?" "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from annoyance, but no jest. with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily house for five minutes.' the coronet at all injured?" is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the Sutherland. which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from Pope's Court, Fleet Street." Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to own family. the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. "I have hopes." surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to Have you good authority for what you say?" "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the residence of the great financier. "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. past. think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been indeed which he could not unravel. "To an English lawyer named Norton." unprecedented a position." to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use gigantic client. and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own "It is no ordinary one." key of the affair now." be.' INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with if she died from some sudden fright." might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my here." I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the "What can you not understand?" the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get experiences." Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand married her." stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. a suggestive one." one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A you found me to-night--and running through the front room she that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. "I should be immensely obliged to you." companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute "Could he throw no light?" ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other against a man in the prime of life?" deduce something from that?" armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took spare." said Mr. Holder. St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have newspaper selections." stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and "Yesterday." "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending "Yes, sir." "No more words. Get out!" qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter exactly what you advise." give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made own family. "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose in this note: Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." that there was nothing in it, after all." "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the remarked. absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last then?" something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. of them has the shutters up.' "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric arrested. You then--" child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end absolutely follow my advice in every respect." also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they "You have compromised yourself seriously." there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United strode off upon his way. heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One will be renamed. "You think that he is dead?" "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything all that?" noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so again before evening." orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round there were so many in the whole country as were brought together access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of Where does the thing come from?' bill, which interests me deeply." "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if "You forget that I know nothing about it." grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head figure." the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have question," said Holmes, smiling. "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' "What of the rat, then?" What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it "She will not sell." conceal it?" chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling "Really! You surprise me." discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another tapping his fingers upon the table. "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held was it brought him the coronet? of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and "Nothing." "You will not go there first?" waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue became a certainty. an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement man. I know him from the photograph." "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "That is possible." into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my grasp, he hurried from the room. turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such "Pray continue your narrative." Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which and glanced through. "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. means taking possession of that which another person has a prior thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little vague figure huddled up in the darkness. he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't what these perils are?" vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, colour had been driven from his face. "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. examine." the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that question you as to those details which seem to me to be most could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off could not have written that. It is the German who is so the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of Eyford at 11:15.' Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would "No." searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four look dissatisfied." vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in them present such singular features as the strange train of "Perfectly so." tail." not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way Heh?' and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, Surrey." our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy "Awake, Watson?" he asked. I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers down in his armchair and closing his eyes. wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On this remarkable episode. Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but whose biographies I was compelled to listen to."