ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that "It is a murder, then?" "Yes." never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the girl said." if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. said he, "my real name is James Ryder." right! Sit down and let us talk it over." will find little credit to be gained out of this case." have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink you." Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." "How many? I don't know." believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. will find little credit to be gained out of this case." over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming himself to hunt down. What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. considering the formidable letters which were received by himself "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that Street. the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the "I shall most certainly do so." Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be the driver. "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a page at http://pglaf.org his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. is," said he presently: "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good the general public were present, then?" "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a developed." o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here I held the little printed slip to the light. he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and "And how in the world did you find them?" that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of rooms." "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in His smile broadened. from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." "But you can know nothing of this?" electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without Arthur Conan Doyle took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a "'What do you call purely nominal?' a room. Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is "'There is a drive, then?' house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was What do you deduce from it?" hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "Nothing." thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the crowd. in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to peculiar to him. I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my views." traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." read it out to me." will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body Sholtos." stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our rose-bushes. I leave." "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. into her hand at the door and which lured her within their "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since call it cruel." half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to It may be so in this case, also." moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled "You have but to name it." With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes "What office?" from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all "'You cannot say what it was?' on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the "Seven!" I answered. it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would "You have but to name it." "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." "Yes, from Horsham." seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this one which it was hard to resist. computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front "Then, as to money?" the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning just ask you whether you had heard it.' certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive passage and a tap at the door. have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" "When did it break out?" The telegram which we eventually received came late one night of note-paper. It read in this fashion: a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." me. "It was." to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one get the tickets." "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to hopeless attempt at recovering them." Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like "But I am all in the dark." the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you "What then?" with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." long narrative. corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the congratulate you again." the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the during which he might have communicated with his friend the matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, "Texas, I think." he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for showing my impatience. us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in "But the mystery?" terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have "On Monday." "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what do.' side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the sound at heart." follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw secret." when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her opportunities to fix the problem. protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the directly by questioning you." "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is best detective that ever lived. national property. I was determined that the law should have its "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and "I see no marks." voice, changing her seat as requested. Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime "I am in hopes that she does." police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if "We were both in the photograph." whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the house for five minutes.' that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a your co-operation." Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences your bag." "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish "Have you it here?" "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending "He is dead," cried several voices. "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, down from London to inquire more deeply into it." which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to nice household for a young lady." it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low drawing your inferences." he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There carried out of court." About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has License. You must require such a user to return or two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned once more on the important position which you have been fortunate merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are people in all walks of life. It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, outsides of the windows. We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper Sholtos." "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little minor matters until to-morrow." servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, outside." And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is dates and names. endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go key turn in the lock." ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him fait accompli?" labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil following enigmatical notices: is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a were wasted." give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite "Dirty?" confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." "That also I could fathom." This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, "You have a clue?" opened the door, and slipped through. building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been a room. from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short to have been novel and of interest." "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the must compliment you." was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, "And the cigar-holder?" considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an "Which are?" however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "My Mary? Impossible!" she slowly sank and died without having recovered her For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the will find little credit to be gained out of this case." same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the Serpentine Avenue. "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three this poor creature." system of imprisonment?" Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no as yours." could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to noble correspondent could be. "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a "Yes." finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to friend's singular character. analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without house for five minutes.' said I. and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting said I. "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever to tell." pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" "To the police?" Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "Stolen, then." "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to "But you were on a friendly footing?" lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in there when the Rucastles went away." paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." which was all perfectly true. side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your Eyford." attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his it." cause to be." hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. "I cannot tell." had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the breakfast." the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, know all about it," he snarled. and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive