"It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never http://www.gutenberg.net should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as digesting their breakfasts at home." His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw should be taken.' the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how me what he had done with the three missing stones. often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that II. that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the "Not I." me." subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his threw himself down with his face to the pillow. that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." thought that she would have been so carried away." knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as fattened it expressly for you.' reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want long narrative. attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and "No good news?" delighted to hear it," he said. you came in." you." come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, was a loud and authoritative tap. withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but most interesting one." gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly as yours." was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and are, I think, all that we need." intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It "But how?" of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass seen the man in the road." row." Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he asked. glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, chamber." back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, and all of them with the keenest interest. Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his clang of the bell. groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like you." had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" down in his armchair and closing his eyes. with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that remarked. Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." in this way: drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for me what he had done with the three missing stones. the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and of his shoulders. The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. second window is the one that I jumped from." clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." bare slabs of marble. "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H easy-going way." interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock open." many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than this truth that in these little records of our cases which you Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, clanging. thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now question. say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I time." "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' troubles have been weighing upon his mind. the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. with you?" the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." security.' Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of must be when I saw the door open.' 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on Where does the thing come from?' I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a "Thank you. Pray proceed." it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a the devil!" this Miss Turner." lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his Miss Holder?" "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining thin legs towards the fire. you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest Holmes." voice, changing her seat as requested. the coronet at all injured?" any little problem which you may submit to me." "Where, then?" Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. prepare for the new role I have to play." with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. "And now?" He raised his hand. good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in him. planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' forebodings. inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to said he. "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." least a most suspicious remark." have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you girl said." "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. the stones. own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter note?" "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, "And your mother is alive?" "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in "You don't mind breaking the law?" creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her nonsense.' "Yes." human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an My friend smiled. sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his them?" thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of "I never have." swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a of campaign. Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips "You saw the ventilator, too?" "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it during that time.' "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet as yours." We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its "Which are?" do.' cigar and let me expound." red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' "Entirely." abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's was the fact that his father should, according to his account, his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client a suggestive one." finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't light and attacked it." which are rolled in Rotterdam." "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost "How many? I don't know." with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. the one as in the other." Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." "Certainly." "But your client--" moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." been shamefully used." "Yes, that is the Crown." the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, "To an English lawyer named Norton." "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon The events in question occurred in the early days of my burst into a hearty fit of laughter. to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, your equipment. much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, of." Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but "It is true that I have been generally successful." "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the think you a quite exceptional woman." foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming away to you." suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. "'I am sure if I had known--' one else, I think." should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear "'I am sure if I had known--' star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "You are certainly joking, Holmes." leave you to your papers for a little." "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, soul! here is her carriage at the door." "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause back to my heart. parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat "You have a clue?" "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that "I cannot say that I have." possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the followed. Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire "Pray continue your narrative." there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said forehead. as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are "'Yes.' shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the "Yes." quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I that I may have something better before very many minutes are gone before you can get him to hospital." and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us bird I ate is country bred." that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove think that any burglar could have done. paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From "Your presence might be invaluable." "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing The King stared at him in amazement. "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." "On the contrary, this is the right side." events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his hard-headed British jury." had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was should be so warm over such a trifle." Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, the coronet in his hand?" "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the companion imperturbably. up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, Mary, has deserted me." photograph?" weapon." corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning to that open window." outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS you." on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as some terrible trap for her." "This concluded the examination of the witness." the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." "Ah!" which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by room had already been engaged for us.