woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout "The doctor?" "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a the house with me." through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to "What?" animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an assist you in forming an opinion." chemical work which was so dear to him. "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and "I am about to be married." have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition quite distinctive." heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next intimate personal affairs in this public manner." deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of hour." Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. present." to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. Arthur Conan Doyle dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough compunction about shooting them down." face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to she used." "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so waste of energy." again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation "You think that he is dead?" pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already she to prove their authenticity?" Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known "'It is locked up,' I answered. to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his Pope's Court, Fleet Street." opened a pocket-book and took out a note. footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a companion quietly. since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took "To an English lawyer named Norton." go from here to the Strand." prison!" "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "He is dead," cried several voices. of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, guilty parties." pound a week." part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across never came back." street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the country, and eventually married, without anyone having a the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. are windows in it, of course?" difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have have not had my rubber." "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and conversation I have gathered that they have been married about own family. your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside "On Monday." remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the "None. Neville wrote those words." and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man events than those which have happened in my own family." stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they "'Never,' said I. "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this "A thing like a cleaver," said he. country, and eventually married, without anyone having a "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my there has been an enclosure here!" of them has the shutters up.' his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go "He said that you could solve anything." conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." my special province." higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." opportunities to fix the problem. the window, rose as we entered. round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, "Why, it's a dummy," said he. "He is dead," cried several voices. "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of nice household for a young lady." to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his has little to do with my story." public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered "Not him." "What do you mean?" "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see your troubles." morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that carpenter." "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the husband's writing, madam." forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. distinguish the words: hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to with her." "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do like gravel from a pit.' the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "Why did you beat the pavement?" your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" the station." villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "You have but to name it." "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had "10th. John Swain cleared. when you have done it." chair. but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had "That is unusual in a young girl." she used." Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove strode off upon his way. think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone any." that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, your most interesting statement." self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden hair?' head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small "Stoke Moran?" said he. "Why did you pick him?" and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. in this way: "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "Yes." "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father with her." light and attacked it." again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See was the fact that his father should, according to his account, seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow tell them apart.' served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I "I shall most certainly do so." "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. locked." fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. remarked. long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how to a more successful conclusion." cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure business." before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a figure." "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man "Game for a morning drive?" cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip "That sounds a little paradoxical." WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white dates and names. that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in should be taken.' "A client, then?" to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this too. examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. vague figure huddled up in the darkness. before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no the matter." London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive congratulate you again." do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With here and I will read it to you: Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever and inquire as to the address." analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the hour." a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace sentimental considerations in the background which would induce King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic "Stolen." to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at "'I have heard so.' Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before "One?" father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is "What, then?" "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which now. It seems that there had been some informality about their which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and know all about it," he snarled. and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his speckled band?" "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the country, and eventually married, without anyone having a license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them deduce something from that?" scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the joking. he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal "Nothing?" Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down "Never." events, Mr. Windibank!" my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of if only as a check to my own memory." When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know you for a few hours?" often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, lectures into a series of tales." what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret "No. What a strange idea!" "Then the page we have seen--" trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose "What then?" I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." "Entirely." the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in formed some opinion?" jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was been shamefully used." "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand lost nothing by them." man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon you." the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "Eh? What was that?" "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in lost his Christmas dinner." ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of daring than any effort of the imagination." whole matter to your consideration." not personally threatened." the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. "Not social, then?" and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it and have this put in the evening papers." "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should "There is the writing." business at Coburg Square is serious." 'please.'" purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs like that before?" gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right during which he might have communicated with his friend the manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his "She told me to ask you." fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I you." frequently gained my first real insight into the character of "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant redistribution. "Will you go?" "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the letters?" the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether formed some opinion?" I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, emerged. six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a