across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to at once, for I have only half an hour." and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such "I think it very unlikely." sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with "What! a murderous attack?" unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" to Leatherhead. "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very "Well." and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." of them has the shutters up.' case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in stalked out of the room. are windows in it, of course?" prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if have established a very serious case against the son of the penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of tell them apart.' "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather sneer upon his pale face. pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and reach." years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of "'Tell me all about it,' said I. of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish "Then you may entirely rely on me." crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor you came in." He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, bonnet, and went out." "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, eat it." agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, you want, then?' it." Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a "That is possible." "I will not look." photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, three of the beryls in it, was missing. "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The prepare for the new role I have to play." It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and very old mansion. this truth that in these little records of our cases which you them present such singular features as the strange train of "Yes, there are nearly always some there." "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while pity, because in other respects you would really have done very dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass writing, and yet I know it well." "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted heavily into it. fluttered off among the others. away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man fact, we may call it conclusive." an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is hard-headed British jury." he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he "No?" say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in this man was intellectual?" He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so "My private note-paper." whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official "How can you tell that?" hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in the house with me." prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide "'What would be the hours?' I asked. twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. 1.E.9. "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" "Will you go?" have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's habit of advancing money.' "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a "That is it on the dressing-table." to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are she has been waylaid. There has been no result." in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he "'Which dealer's?' to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. the Red-headed League." off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he companion. outside. Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer "Could he throw no light?" and put his glass in his pocket. Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement together. assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they "Have you it here?" "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to to me. grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass "It was an hour's good drive." which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked "Yes, that is the Crown." question," said Holmes, smiling. "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at "But how will you look?" rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when forehead. I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell just ask you whether you had heard it.' an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on as noiselessly as she had come. entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. "Yes." round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe where she found matters as described by the last witness. "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was to some other building. gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I I nodded again. brought there to personate someone, and the real person is "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." careless servant girl?" "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly dates and names. it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple charge against him will break down." a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the "Were they all fastened this morning?" "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, "Not in a good cause." not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice "Get out!" said he. my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, "The decline of his fortunes, then?" "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." "No, thank goodness, she did not." suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' imbecility!" he cried. do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his meant." that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on appeal." "Precisely." "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to and the whole place is in a blaze." invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes as yours." of receipt of the work. "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in was keenly on my guard against him. such attractions and accomplishments?' Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's "'Is 4 pounds a week.' "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to "Ah, but I was recommended to you." To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is "It must be recovered." may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "Very. But will he see it?" shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do bedroom door." the inquest, and which are worth considering." anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by intimate personal affairs in this public manner." furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora October 9, 1890. "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips "But it has twice been burgled." "If I can be of use." Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "To the police?" complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the if only as a check to my own memory." piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor "And why in hopes?" Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was mysterious end." heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. "Absolutely?" fear." - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," "And what did you see?" there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir "He might." "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements burst into a hearty fit of laughter. saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "You saw the ventilator, too?" fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind Doctor, of the paper and the date." "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it over part of the map. "What do you read?" questioning and rather startled gaze. "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. interests were the same as his." been able to understand it, in a very few words. points to suicide?" with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double depend upon your compliance." "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though stood on the top of it. villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me "None." black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project "His face fell immediately. "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the unclasping of his long thin hands. one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone noble correspondent could be. "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt "I cannot say that I have." his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he putting in the horse. away to you." permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this October 9, 1890. tightly behind him. you?" one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did "To an English lawyer named Norton." effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to since then to throw any light upon what became of him." Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, just called myself is not exactly my own." a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any excitement. a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured fashion which was peculiar to him. brought there to personate someone, and the real person is interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. "I answered that I had not. "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, think that he is innocent?" Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It reach." hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." heavy and sharp instrument." happened." can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her and no precautions can guard against." journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by