sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with as noiselessly as she had come. "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he "'Ample.' more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands as he remarks, very much against the son." The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the late." him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in "I fear not." woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. his eyes and forehead. "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and my little problems." small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than outbreak?" "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By "I see no marks." I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more pictures, libraries, or plate. Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. time." rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "I never have." the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. fled together." of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which Young McCarthy must be got off, however." brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" politicians who had been sent down from the North. form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the searched, without anything being found which could incriminate ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' "Not in the least." income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we excitement. with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place thirty. her also." had picked up in the wood. him!" "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no Sutherland. his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, Dr. Gregory B. Newby work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the in this way: and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which to a more successful conclusion." leaning back in his chair. you understand?" of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. about here speaks of his kindness to him." police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as to miss it." then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, begin with, and I had not got mine yet." "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be situation." back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped forbidden door. was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white views." "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the nothing with him." the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their never to learn it at all." it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The "I will not look." exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. public press." which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. questionable one." sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. "So I am. Very much so." the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in "But she could not love him." circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in that I can to serve you." "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" "My last client of the sort was a king." could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for business." me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem "I assure you that I am in your hands." servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in will not take me long to tell. door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father "Quite so. She has her freedom." kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the that threaten you." papers diligently of late, have you not?" views." PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK any." off." red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. weighed down with some great anxiety. "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's that he will be back before evening." as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is "Eh? What was that?" before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning October 9, 1890. One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that gbnewby@pglaf.org do." "The knees of his trousers." zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is indiscretion." "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the "'Certainly not. But why?' that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time you do it in twenty minutes!' confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. drove away. my little problems." room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he for securing the situation." cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from digesting their breakfasts at home." "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite on re-entering her father's house?" me, and I could not think that his explanation of the preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the "'Quite sure, dad.' trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is "VIOLET HUNTER." "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have "My last client of the sort was a king." the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the it." "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, "It was." someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly is," said he presently: Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I Sholtos." pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up "No." down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and "I think it very unlikely." "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other when your master had gone out." in him." half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She "My dear Holmes!" "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for "What, then, did Peterson do?" "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an four million human beings all jostling each other within the "Perhaps I have." the ceiling. "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a "'Very good.' high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. society." the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. "A client, then?" 11:15.' "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and other lovers by making love himself." "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would "I know where it is." it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in "It is to him that this trophy belongs." "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "What can you not understand?" It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she "Her father is very rich?" "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest "I shall be delighted." X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "You have compromised yourself seriously." d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his it." to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" danger is over." is acting for the best. through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a "Of what day?" walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the come either from the window or the door. My attention was destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down lost nothing by them." "You are hungry," I remarked. the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my friend's singular character. once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the more terrible than the truth. fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in quickly through a disagreeable task. step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set him to be an active member of the medical profession." the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either made his money." "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may trifles." possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. is entirely a question of barometric pressure." for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday "It goes to the housekeeper's room." "But we can't all be." "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known been anything against him. He had for years been known as a grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four hand, madam?" "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly "Yes." St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies "ARAT," I read. lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As done what I asked you, Jones?" new duties?' his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" could not have written that. It is the German who is so "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice "And your father? Did you tell him?" say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, "Very. But will he see it?" which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make in a very precise fashion." tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I during that time.' interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one remarked. makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate thought that she would have been so carried away." then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which "But the mystery?" "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business "Breckinridge is his name." hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank for securing the situation." "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too redistribution. gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than excitement. "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my what I may call a really hard day's work." printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an business." "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit American. Then who could this American be, and why should he tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite not as remarkable as your advertisement." light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an official police." accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I away into the river." know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely shall use the carriage to-night." that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a you found me to-night--and running through the front room she But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard