and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. "Yes, he did." "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have three of the beryls in it, was missing. body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger his knees, staring into the fire. "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had strode off upon his way. "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. "It is no ordinary one." "But his lameness?" other means.' "Yes." "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant "A confidential servant?" "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed the loss of it. "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. shoulder; "he's all right." get the tickets." dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to But Holmes shook his head gravely. Gutenberg-tm License. interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." "'And what salary do you ask?' "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a investigation." unclasping of his long thin hands. With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the the so-precious time, but come!' "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means "I am still in the dark." overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of flock.' weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said obstinate." as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and your bag." connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian whereabouts. room?" The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. I. the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the least a fellow-countryman. rooms." Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A unkempt, staring out at me. "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the compunction about shooting them down." "She told me to ask you." business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very during that time.' would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous one or two very singular points about this room. For example, inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent the very letters. But what is this written above them?' "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running morning." photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into back to my heart. down from London to inquire more deeply into it." "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good "Yes." finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of as the one I chose?' muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the someone who had been in Australia." been shamefully used." "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. "Pray let us have it, for all that." terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable works. assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew "Why serious?" for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back strong reason behind." America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to "'Ample.' explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the your room." Holmes' thin, eager face. touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is bill, which interests me deeply." with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the time." mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his silent! Oh, he will be silent!' "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room is," said he presently: fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in "Won't it ring?" nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third tear off another piece?' but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in against a man in the prime of life?" his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I to a more successful conclusion." crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the your billet.' a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very hopeless attempt at recovering them." self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. room. "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." enter Dr. Roylott's room." pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all "'Is 4 pounds a week.' remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself is so. I know all about McCarthy." have established a very serious case against the son of the came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat once more on the important position which you have been fortunate concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that prepare for the new role I have to play." nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable success. "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a call it cruel." "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your the Assizes." over part of the map. "What do you read?" does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a reach." Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and pierced for earrings?" "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered as he folded up the epistle. immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with recover the gem." employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the to go into your room and bar your shutters?" you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping know all about it," he snarled. nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. his face. volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a "Why, it's a dummy," said he. companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "Your French gold?" gone. "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his formed some opinion?" "Which surely he restored to their owner?" hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. think you a quite exceptional woman." introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of What do you deduce from it?" "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. "The Coroner: What do you mean? "Then you may entirely rely on me." which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, locked." that, and I came down." behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "I have my revolver," said I. hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and trifles." "To an end?" which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this "What, then?" tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line Doctor, of the paper and the date." mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' "Well, it is a possible supposition." would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these "'Yes, it was gone.' recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. charged with?" "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm fatally injured? grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, "So it appears." "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." events, Mr. Windibank!" individual and becomes the badge of a society." making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid weighed down with some great anxiety. stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in that you wished to speak to me?' the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. formed some opinion?" DAMAGE. on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; "Oh, fresh and glossy." where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out "You have a clue?" cigars in their mouths. second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came charge against him will break down." "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray I held the little printed slip to the light. fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man security.' seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. your only hope of safety." "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to "Will you go?" pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector golden eyeglasses. across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, wedding?" disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted Leadenhall Street--and--" "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to IS "So I have heard." of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we me where it went to?" Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed on re-entering her father's house?" and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his child?' It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful desk. It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I better grown goose." all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face "Nothing?" betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he "It came here." there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so