Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the "I have solved it." fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? my friend's incisive reasoning. questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg Holmes rather sternly. difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were "Oh, fresh and glossy." screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, "But he might be a bachelor." "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I "What are they?" electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss and that he would see to anything that turned up. "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that "I see no marks." diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's me have 200 pounds?' "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near in his hands." green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near ventilator." the roots. observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his What do you deduce from it?" overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been begin with, and I had not got mine yet." Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from "Bought." you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' for its centre. spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future *** START: FULL LICENSE *** foresight and the moral retrogression?" years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting little adventures." ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the hopeless attempt at recovering them." "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad "About a month then." brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience "Imitated." the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some disappearance of the bride.'" nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six that there was nothing in it, after all." "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then the stable lane now." sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." because she had spent so short a time in this country that she green of the new foliage. then?" wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." lumber-room." Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were to miss it." hurried by. unkempt, staring out at me. my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a guilty parties." to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out would then never go into court at all." and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save me upon any point which I do not make clear." "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the The police have openly confessed that they can at present make Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you "He disappeared so suddenly." speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not "You have compromised yourself seriously." The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His "In the cells." with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be together. cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention once more to my work. Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. The King stared at him in amazement. not personally threatened." man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary "How often?" the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly "Where is it, then?" Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." people don't know." Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me "Tired-looking or fresh?" "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "In which, sir?" "'And what salary do you ask?' am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my "Of Friday, June 19th." "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, "That is not always so easy." your only hope of safety." in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to jewels which you have stolen?' A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you congratulate you again." "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had look dissatisfied." would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." in him." copied or distributed: gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door "To an end?" regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some "None." telegram would bring me down to your help." IS have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do "But how?" pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "I cannot imagine." the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, society." "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which nights." "What then?" destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back His smile broadened. have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the I nodded to show that I had heard. to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time will he say when he returns?" country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips "The doctor?" five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you without a word or a look. Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin open." passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's "'Quite sure, dad.' think, you have already met." crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to not within a twentieth part of the market price." business at Coburg Square is serious." therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, "A greater distance to travel." daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in and I shall be with you presently." have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. sneer upon his pale face. from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the there." me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." "'What are you doing there?' he asked. on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the read over the extraordinary announcement. hardly wander." confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked that before taking the final step I should like to submit the He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as foot. spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the "Come in!" said he. wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a "Never." compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our "That is also quite modern," said the lady. between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after Does that suggest anything?" London for the present?" the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, depend upon your compliance." a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, question you as to those details which seem to me to be most "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." from you?" in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as "No?" fattened it expressly for you.' really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall on re-entering her father's house?" into the bag, and made for the door. we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' come either from the window or the door. My attention was bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of "And you thought he was pulled back?" "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united "I was certainly surprised to find you there." putting in the horse. in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; fire. You quite follow me?" about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was I have it here in my museum." "Where, then, is my wife?" down from London to inquire more deeply into it." rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a daring than any effort of the imagination." 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply that, and I came down." have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should "Well." "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the something of him before." inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely colonel looking down at me. room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt "I say that I have solved it." "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the direction." admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, begin with, and I had not got mine yet." He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the that, and I came down." husband's writing, madam." "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before neither fascinating nor artistic." fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very examination of the premises, but without finding anything which Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. Sutherland. and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "Certainly, madam." companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was "Yes." have had none more fantastic than this." deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before in the dead of the night?' call you and give you the chance." lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these spark where all is dark to me." the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the "'And what salary do you ask?' suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "No, I had a dozen." one's self under obligations.' "I have solved it." the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at married her." basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For "Look there!" said he. conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where "Pray let us have it, for all that." such person." secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded "About a month then." "It is possible." me. "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of cigar and let me expound." "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting there was no need for father to know." There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A