"The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there instituted." ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the leaning back in his chair. as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp tell me that you intended to go into harness." threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, "I know where it is." You can understand that this register and diary may implicate of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he you." examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? shall use the carriage to-night." me." Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY own family. enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband call for protection in the marriage market, for the present his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads begin with, and I had not got mine yet." "But your client--" fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same straighten it?" will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and compunction about shooting them down." "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social "Absolutely none." keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case will not take me long to tell. at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few retorted upon me, and I on you." sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is during that time.' moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, "9th. McCauley cleared. "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can "He might." with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was discontent upon his features. his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique roused himself from his reverie. do." had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled the house with me." the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had tied." surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my six. Come in!" blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though "How about poison?" "You horrify me." We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be "Where, then, is my wife?" tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." "Just look it up, then." "Then I shall certainly come." wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was to his chemical studies. "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the success. which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, Holmes." probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the "Nothing." waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to "I will get her to show me." point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the quick march!" tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry come either from the window or the door. My attention was serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." think, you have already met." "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at time." not interfere, come what may. You understand?" events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I thin legs towards the fire. may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental DAMAGE. directors, with the result that you have seen." police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you know what is wrong with it.' saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against "No, finished." "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was Munro.' the stable lane now." "Yes." we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "Where did he live, then?" He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. entirely devoid of interest." "Well?" the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the means taking possession of that which another person has a prior him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was the ceiling. the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "Yes, it was twisted." attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that business came to an end." "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary "It surprised me." already referred to. happened." your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from "And your mother is alive?" "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of second window is the one that I jumped from." "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird page at http://pglaf.org "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very "And you thought he was pulled back?" "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. to tell." the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled that there was nothing in it, after all." and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was "Yes, there are nearly always some there." foot. Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or *** START: FULL LICENSE *** "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" "None." Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a he died? and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan "I was afraid that you were engaged." "What are they?" away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable is," said he presently: drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being I shall communicate with you." am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the him!" the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the off." "It came here." weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. criminal. We have already had experience of such." "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De "Was she in good spirits?" to some other building. "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. begin with, and I had not got mine yet." yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on "It is a murder, then?" chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when rat could hardly pass through." mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On "No, but the enclosure is." have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty himself to tell his story. woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the newspaper selections." ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of examine." posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those "I say it is." Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a the inquest, and which are worth considering." "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "I will not look." 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' you?" "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you "'I am sure if I had known--' than was visible to me." "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up your sleep?' "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the fattened it expressly for you.' "Texas, I think." an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "ARAT," I read. glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from said Mr. Holder. I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow upon an income of about 60 pounds." "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but morning." I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very retorted upon me, and I on you." saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to "One of the highest in England." the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. "Why did you beat the pavement?" "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, papers on the sundial.'" London for the present?" which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the are windows in it, of course?" pressing in one house as in another. the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and direction." triumphant cloud from his cigarette. depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to "No sign of it?" in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts Edgeware Road. "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "That is also quite modern," said the lady. "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to "Certainly." she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the shaken than I had ever seen him. "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. "You think that he is dead?" "I am still in the dark." "That sounds a little paradoxical." hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." call the police, let the police find what they can.' "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the "You think that he is dead?" in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is "By all means." residence of the great financier. him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, green of the new foliage. the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it "I have come for advice." "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must showing my impatience. charged with?" delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not subject to the trademark license, especially commercial therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that beg that you will break it off." is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes again before evening." departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly notes," he said. of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have has little to do with my story." once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a been with you?" brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow that?' she to prove their authenticity?" "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which than to us. Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set "A call for help, you thought?" "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must at once, for I have only half an hour." Leave Paddington by the 11:15." of the vacancies.' reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from business came to an end." ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt "So I am. Very much so." from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled problems help me to do so." "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis present." St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in "What I expected to see." which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, must be when I saw the door open.' of this gang." attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to "No good news?" It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help strange features which were associated with the two crimes which any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." "Never." upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a he died? "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your looking up at the numbers of the houses." done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any had formerly been in part my own. whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met "Deserted you?" he. and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with ordinary clothes on?" equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is again before evening." neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said