for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the "It is his hat." coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness "You horrify me." Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." "The King of Scandinavia." ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they companion. "It is a murder, then?" the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in intimate personal affairs in this public manner." round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." room. cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the "Two days later this same performance was gone through under of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own the south-west, I see." row." decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were so.' Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the other means.' "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel throat." "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" "Yes, at the mines." came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient "A confidential servant?" "I cannot as yet see any connection." ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "'What do you call purely nominal?' When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without that I may have something better before very many minutes are "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too copied or distributed: "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, tell him that I know him to be innocent." across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, directly by questioning you." "The Cedars?" "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the there." affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to get her out of the way." "I have come for advice." was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began careless servant girl?" of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed train.' "Really! You surprise me." "And why?" number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler strode off upon his way. memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out "What then?" Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time relief. ready to-morrow?' retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and woman who has had her own way to make in the world. face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the manager. down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her father's young wife. "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll "Do you receive much company?" he asked. brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at "Yes." useful material for showing traces. The double line a little either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the and have this put in the evening papers." weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the once more on the important position which you have been fortunate been deceived." get her out of the way." "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 just called myself is not exactly my own." "May I see it?" "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the knowledge of the world." family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if "So it appears." a good hundred miles off by now." a suggestive one." "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell details." way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. The summons was a brief and urgent one. question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's "'And what are they worth?' I asked. but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let I nodded to show that I had heard. there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this lips." "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a "Always." "I should wish to." myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is you." "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. the warnings." "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was up this clue while it is still hot." "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at returning from some small jollification and was making his way "She told me to ask you." soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a other means.' "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but "Whose house is it?" there has been an enclosure here!" the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he which it had come upon my father." "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" "No, I had a dozen." "And why in hopes?" the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all "'Is purely nominal.' general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, the ceiling. desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle "I was sure that I might rely on you." confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. go from here to the Strand." she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went question. perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over me." slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see hopeless attempt at recovering them." if only as a check to my own memory." "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained photograph?" As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short will he say when he returns?" Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of rooms." heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the approach us with offers to donate. "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" foot. had a long day." push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my your only hope of safety." and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, held up the lantern and gazed about him. "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full "No, finished." days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering look dissatisfied." the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it whether it answered to the description of any of their triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated Farm upon the left." "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits breakfast." wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the residence of the great financier. "Certainly." hereditary King of Bohemia." did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." in darkness. "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting question," said Holmes, smiling. by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. "Have you her photograph?" was the fact that his father should, according to his account, "And why?" and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not of this gang." given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of do you make of it all?" accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of lamp. brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across whole matter to your consideration." glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has me, and I could not think that his explanation of the "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in I took the paper from him and read as follows: He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You have got?" exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. "But what harm can there be in that?" "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is prisoner's face. no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards it." prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled away into the river." do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to "This concluded the examination of the witness." it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased to a light-house. "Perfectly so." "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived "Witness: It was. way in." nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had knowledge of the world." "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." least a fellow-countryman. to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid thirty. dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, do." these bleak autumnal evenings." plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. I. game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. confronted him. While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had done what I asked you, Jones?" intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the kind enough to tell me what I should do." manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "Texas, I think." worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this chambers. "It was." "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever waste of energy." shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her records." "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys towards the blaze. him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the could go. "I am armed." "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case one or two very singular points about this room. For example, "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. pictures, libraries, or plate. "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I been deceived." "Pray tell us what has happened to you." I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is do.' "Ample." to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips "No, I had a dozen." have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come annoyance, but no jest. the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," drawing your inferences." my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire brandy and water within his reach. "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he photograph?" to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and "You saw the ventilator, too?" glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his guilty one." "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted said he, "my real name is James Ryder." rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "No, thank goodness, she did not." "How about poison?" be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough "Who was the criminal, then?" instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "Ah, but I was recommended to you." with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. within hail.' if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, him and tried to hold him back. must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but British peeress.'" had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There