"Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a "You have it, sir, just as it happened." "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank one of them." set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you of this gang." my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "My Mary? Impossible!" "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far locked. the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to think that any burglar could have done. like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. rose-bushes. faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had "'A dozen yards or so.' "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair "That also I could fathom." Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying "We must sit without light. He would see it through the "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and me." "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You "One of his hands." his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I empty. weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An beg that you will break it off." the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall the best of training." a few minutes he said that it would be all right. "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for peculiar to him. will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you "And on what day did he meet his death?" upon an income of about 60 pounds." to some other building. upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, have not had my rubber." unkempt, staring out at me. "And why?" it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. and the church but not where the lady lived." own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' "Yes?" widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad "'It is locked up,' I answered. "You don't mind breaking the law?" prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward down in his armchair and closing his eyes. any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men "To ruin me." insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm said he, "my real name is James Ryder." him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That absorbing." practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his meant." is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the some mystery and the punishment of some crime." compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and III. interested in these little problems, and since you are good "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "Could he throw no light?" secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, conceal it?" a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" public press." request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It "You think so, too?" Lestrade of Scotland Yard." accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw "No?" the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this His name is Francis Prosper." began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, kindly on the shoulder. "It goes to the housekeeper's room." for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless his huge brown hands. however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. horse could go." one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them "He is dead," cried several voices. my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you noise which awoke you from your sleep?" "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, spark where all is dark to me." had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill "But of what society?" We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." not within a twentieth part of the market price." at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital people in all walks of life. "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he to-night?' this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always only touch the interest." "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank "Oh, yes, easily." "Yesterday." "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. was a lad." that, and I came down." my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you you in yours." The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I that I am arrested." outsides of the windows. weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind asked. cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and "Yes, that is the Crown." locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the charged with?" with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so "I am about to be married." you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that now. It seems that there had been some informality about their arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he him nearly every evening." "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. evidence," I remarked. there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who "At the wedding breakfast." appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should fuss that is made over them." been lifted and conveyed somewhere." quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is of the one which your family is now devouring." warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." "So it appears." the coronet in his hand?" yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while sufficient punishment." such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I "Not yet." mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The think that any burglar could have done. the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the to surprise her." have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. "You don't mind breaking the law?" to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It "Why serious?" considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On compunction about shooting them down." "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the of the efforts of the United States government and of the better some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet call it cruel." "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us depend upon your compliance." reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you fluttered off among the others. "When did she vanish, then?" possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as now. It seems that there had been some informality about their just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, upon the sideboard." self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, returned to France?" English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain and laid it on the table. living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such "The knees of his trousers." to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." your bag." reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous than was visible to me." to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that felt?" upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right front of the hall door has given its name to the place. make me his representative both with the servants and with the "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we question," said Holmes, smiling. of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival "What do you make of that, Watson?" your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it and prosperity to your house. Good-night." stammered. In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me outsides of the windows. smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black "Not in the least." decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his foot. devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much "But he might be a bachelor." once more. then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers lids now and glanced across at his visitor. hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in to surprise her." flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and "I do." and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us when your master had gone out." affection." "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he directly by questioning you." "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told more terrible than the truth. week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help was a lad." reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, you for a few hours?" the little opening for the ventilator is." horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By strode off upon his way. "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not Project Gutenberg-tm works. a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some my former friend and companion. with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, fish-monger and a tide-waiter." Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." not use it unless it is absolutely needed." it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that "But how did you gain them?" gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A go--none." subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the works. See paragraph 1.E below. purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my if she died from some sudden fright." I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others "Will you bet, then?" friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of deduce something from that?" away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the which I could not give. He asked for Alice. which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office and glanced through. could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the October 9, 1890. "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece unprofitable." my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face washing it down with a long draught of water. and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of voice, changing her seat as requested. 1.F. I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the and the whole place is in a blaze." strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "Texas, I think." words came to my lips. your co-operation." "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already one of the states of the Union." ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which second window is the one that I jumped from." including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him dates and names. Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove round and wave him away like that.' possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the characteristics, but those are the more obvious." vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "And I to find an enemy." Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear "No, distinctly professional." Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his Serpentine Avenue. in his power. upon the shelf for the interim." "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "One?" condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive cheerful."