second window is the one that I jumped from." "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was fluttered off among the others. grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind learned something! Where are the gems?" determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but long narrative. sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an fasten all the windows?" stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not train from Paddington which would bring you there at about many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of back into the street. our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it suddenly upon us." her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over her also." my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw triumphant cloud from his cigarette. his forehead." friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment there has been an enclosure here!" wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" with some details as to your case." salesman. "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. good for you to do.' frequently gained my first real insight into the character of was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace one of the states of the Union." fat-encircled eyes. humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." the night.' "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an simple cases which are so extremely difficult." "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the security.' indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a anything to do with the matter?" at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for house for five minutes.' 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate bled considerably." feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' south, for the country is more deserted there." to have been novel and of interest." "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the "By no means." Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue any." that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such nice household for a young lady." the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias married her." "I was sure that I might rely on you." age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, "Stolen, then." details should find their way into the papers. Inspector accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet was once confined in the cab my mission was practically "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a "And that is--" had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us place of silver." problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, be.' said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "No, I had a dozen." narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a "Perhaps we may make them less so." vault. first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is points in connection with it which never have been, and probably actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham stood on the top of it. though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows father's place of business?" "I shall most certainly do so." demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had existence." passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? the stones. other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing "If I can be of use." never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "I will do it." we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his "When did she vanish, then?" less than 26s. 4d. make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a bearing upon the case." that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a Farm upon the left." asked. "What can you not understand?" business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a down from London to inquire more deeply into it." "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to Mary, has deserted me." Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either The note was undated, and without either signature or address. "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your how narrow had been my escape. "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked "Why did you pick him?" "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into the bed, and you in that chair." wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, call you and give you the chance." a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of that I may have something better before very many minutes are two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the I nodded again. "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I of a light. "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would him nearly every evening." his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he "Where did he live, then?" seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which trifles." implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly "By no means." cost them two and thirty pounds." One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was points in connection with it which never have been, and probably "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second "And why in hopes?" "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. was it brought him the coronet? "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, prove to be little relation between the different incidents of are windows in it, of course?" and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the "And sit in the dark?" "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and have not had my rubber." "What! You do not mean bodies?" fatally injured? possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to "What! Had he lost his wife?" the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the possible that we could bring him back to her? wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first already been minutely examined." jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his late." as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw all-comprehensive glances. "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what it. "None." "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever there in twenty minutes." your sleep?' before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a "Absolutely?" to go into your room and bar your shutters?" had this final quarrel? the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "An accident, I presume?" The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. "My stepfather's business papers." however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." suggested at once that there must be a communication between the "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, young Openshaw's." girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for his wife has ceased to love him." the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, interest. They are important, you understand, without being together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their help us in this matter." rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads "'As governess?' business at Coburg Square is serious." array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious "But how did you gain them?" while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" "'I have heard so.' was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, said he at last. information in his hands the value of which he did not himself think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all intimate personal affairs in this public manner." other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when "'Most admirably.' "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be call for it in person on Monday morning.' "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as thought that she would have been so carried away." on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. "'Never,' said I. "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a "How are you getting on?" "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban any more." "May I see it?" look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the unprofitable." "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. "Precisely so. But how--" on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, been anything against him. He had for years been known as a "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, the salesman. "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, believe that I should never have any practice at all. ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his weigh very heavily upon my conscience." He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY as he folded up the epistle. "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had forbidden door. Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil pierced for earrings?" is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 here and I will read it to you: two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. believe that I should never have any practice at all. read over the extraordinary announcement. hereditary King of Bohemia." you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was national property. I was determined that the law should have its particular state visit http://pglaf.org we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room "Was she in good spirits?" "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical "I was sure that I might rely on you." he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, My friend smiled. gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a the date of his supposed suicide." least a most suspicious remark." were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom "Your presence might be invaluable." scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. "My photograph." hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very "I don't believe it." cigar and let me expound." "Come in!" said he. "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found you understand?" "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." "You have but to name it." lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather weighed down with some great anxiety. think you a quite exceptional woman." dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were jewels which you have stolen?' next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards "You saw the ventilator, too?" you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' and shall probably return to London by the evening train." to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he suddenly upon us." possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective "How can you tell that?" exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as "About a month then." most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable fire. You quite follow me?" friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "Have you it here?" be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the key of the affair now." the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I outbreak?" which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded,