woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way furiously. "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." writing, and yet I know it well." her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." girl said." end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean people in all walks of life. "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a DISSOLVED. papers on the sundial.'" this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most "Where, then?" four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. "I would pay ten." "Very well, sir. And this stone?" had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me "The rest you will leave in our hands." two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards never to learn it at all." brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, him and tried to hold him back. been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and "And from a noble client?" know all about it," he snarled. bare slabs of marble. weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I ago." away in different directions, and I went off to make my own was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after "Perfectly so." "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to "Was he the only applicant?" has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few long narrative. time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her characteristics, but those are the more obvious." "And how did you verify them?" battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the forecastle of an emigrant ship. up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On "'Yes, sir.' and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? weary and pale-looking. "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight it right.' this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a fluttered off among the others. matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer flock.' dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress fuss that is made over them." as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and particular state visit http://pglaf.org without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined the loss of it. it means?" "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." you in your example." strange features which were associated with the two crimes which "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as thought that she would have been so carried away." to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our man. threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after train from Paddington which would bring you there at about woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout detective. dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked extraordinary contortions. whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." face and glided from the room. Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in you." the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to the address that was given us in the advertisement. light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his "I see no marks." the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he the inquest, and which are worth considering." fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in "Thank you. Pray proceed." distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work lamp in his hand. digesting their breakfasts at home." say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to evidence," I remarked. machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I trifles." some terrible trap for her." Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his attention." all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a tell him that I know him to be innocent." "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, fear." by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is "I was sure that I might rely on you." possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this "He is dead," cried several voices. "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" "Have you it here?" "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything was feeling which was the fattest.' clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would "Yes, it would be as well." "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated place of silver." "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the "Witness: Nothing definite. rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which likely to be some crony of the landlady's." approach us with offers to donate. hour?' "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which "'You cannot say what it was?' Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and the iron safe, which he closed upon it. but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it "I never have." purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window noting anything else of interest. him nearly every evening." stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest true." opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. is entirely a question of barometric pressure." daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "Nothing." back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet "And who is her maid?" or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. Pope's Court. "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide "I answered that I had not. At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special examine." are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others "I will try. What is it?" conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such she used." would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an what I may call a really hard day's work." his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter the stones. weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' figure." astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall speckled band?" and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there towards the blaze. "'What do you call purely nominal?' obstinate." question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or "Your sister is dead, then?" description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday the matter?" to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed "Holmes, the busybody!" "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' go from here to the Strand." star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of coroner's jury." very morning of my second wedding." which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself "Yes." her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door "Was he the only applicant?" the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon notes," he said. "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about "The decline of his fortunes, then?" week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was envelope. it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day note?" window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich "And for present expenses?" salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he fear." "Perhaps we may make them less so." unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, singular points about the case. What did the police think of the wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would hopeless attempt at recovering them." and wait." respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in you, my dear young lady?' "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked quickly through a disagreeable task. and prosperity to your house. Good-night." "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The not interfere, come what may. You understand?" sooner or later she must fall a victim. of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand walking." Henry Baker is a member." "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of upon the white wrist. or in danger--" are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what less than 26s. 4d. "I am all attention, madam." married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather "No, but the enclosure is." streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for "My opinion is in no way altered." compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a as noiselessly as she had come. "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped it." "He said too much." your most interesting statement." the matter." without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," been lifted and conveyed somewhere." brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done interested in these little problems, and since you are good Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged "How many? I don't know." you in yours." from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without that the gas is not laid on in his house?" from you?" every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings "Yes, it would be as well." "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the I took the paper from him and read as follows: villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it cigars in the box." Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' maid will bring up your coffee." said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened if only as a check to my own memory." If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it "On your arm?" again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally "And you thought he was pulled back?" afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. gives a meaning to it." will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive http://www.gutenberg.net avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst again on its way. "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a populous neighbourhood." those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation "Have you it here?" "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as Stoke Moran." wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet."