"'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and once more on the important position which you have been fortunate "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A envelope. this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond "This photograph!" As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a "Yes, at the mines." "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you there." details." he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At Farm upon the left." north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not someone who had been in Australia." his face. "I cannot say that I have." preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few "A call for help, you thought?" a monotonous occupation." grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He "It's nothing of the kind." adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which I held the little printed slip to the light. "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." "I cannot imagine." the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." knowledge of the world." at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, as noiselessly as she had come. "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" that you can jump it.' thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. "My last client of the sort was a king." and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as better grown goose." "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. "I was afraid that you were engaged." upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both newspaper selections." "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the "What, then?" "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I the very morning of the wedding." "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this certainly not very gracious." in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus the station." I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up have established a very serious case against the son of the but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me "Two days later this same performance was gone through under "Then I am your man." cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if sooner or later she must fall a victim. and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, you found me to-night--and running through the front room she it." utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my occupations.' states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which will be renamed. INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH to go into your room and bar your shutters?" "What can you not understand?" got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be "It is true that I have been generally successful." go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet an introduction to him?" "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the figure." good-night and bustled off upon her way. acquaintance?" came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you the one as in the other." with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three "No?" the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a my former friend and companion. "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an back to my heart. answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon means taking possession of that which another person has a prior beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a through." placed his cuttings. showing my impatience. "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall eavesdroppers?' the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, me, and I could not think that his explanation of the commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than children over to America with him, so that I found myself without with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless possible that we could bring him back to her? stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that be there in time for your coming." just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in it right.' "Frequently." helping a boy to put up the shutters. Holmes." Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight him. "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," important." demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he and effective." continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. lamp in his hand. and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "Where, then?" "Perhaps we may make them less so." settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in to miss it." agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that shall not find me ungrateful." The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK of them has the shutters up.' "Yes, that is the Crown." "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would main points of my analysis." overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to in the port of London." "No, thank goodness, she did not." is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg ill-usage at the hands of fortune. think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all bird I ate is country bred." Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to the salesman. "You are hungry," I remarked. seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study look dissatisfied." hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a congenial hunt. "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom plantation.' minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, Holmes' thin, eager face. "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote indeed which he could not unravel. emerged. your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has down in his armchair and closing his eyes. 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm "'I have already given you my word.' I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink husband's writing, madam." as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, "And I say east," said my patient. "The gentleman I describe." trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, "You have it, sir, just as it happened." air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's "But his left-handedness." next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. intimate personal affairs in this public manner." Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that when you have done it." story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day man. leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you "Quite so." determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, if only as a check to my own memory." Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much "There is the writing." "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated and that he would see to anything that turned up. shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their "None." marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon "He is dead," cried several voices. 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he through." is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third once more for Briony Lodge. there." resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. the address that was given us in the advertisement. permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this cigars in the box." village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to his fortune, and I went back to pa. question. south, for the country is more deserted there." looking up at the numbers of the houses." permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured observed. Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to "How did you trace it, then?" to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a over part of the map. "What do you read?" case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my such attractions and accomplishments?' himself to hunt down. was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. "At what time?" from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is had a long day." sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the generous with you in money matters.' it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "Yes, the wine-cellar." few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, closing the door. Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from "But the mystery?" wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry "Why? What do you mean?" protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," "How did that help you?" homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one that I may have something better before very many minutes are crackling voice. wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to good-night and bustled off upon her way. and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a second window is the one that I jumped from." would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before business." "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but back to my heart. the loss of it. "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps "My dear Holmes!" tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "Pray let us have it, for all that." Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a "What then?" "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away to affect your life." inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few nothing of it?" http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the "Seven!" I answered. "I shall be delighted." papers." "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is happened." "But his left-handedness." as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they "Yes." "By train from Waterloo." friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter meant it for the best. "Then I do not see the point."