all?" profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. "It is no ordinary one." you understand?" of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came she slowly sank and died without having recovered her him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" "Do you go out much in society?" they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES "No." investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." not use it unless it is absolutely needed." the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. "None." while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may subject to the trademark license, especially commercial in darkness. and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and villagers almost as much as their master. have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a him nearly every evening." very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "'Then let me do so?' fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between empty. ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "She told me to ask you." ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far cause to be." eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without orange pips. purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have mystery!" "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this simple cases which are so extremely difficult." saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." awaited us upon the table. her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "Well, but China?" London for the present?" "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without he. "But she could not love him." used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "Certainly." business at Coburg Square is serious." "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." front of me. "But how could you guess what the motive was?" and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me at my remark. "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. intrusion of other matters." labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. be best to do. would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, "He said that you could solve anything." comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. Lee, in the county of Kent." characteristics, but those are the more obvious." Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger as he remarks, very much against the son." "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us meant it for the best. "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that other means.' equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal "My dear Holmes!" "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, redistribution. the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as second." face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get "Yes, sir." got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" "It came here." have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your "And I to find an enemy." him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, of this gang." thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was to affect your life." glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of points to suicide?" at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative constraint." however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then October 9, 1890. the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." "But you have hopes?" "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." "One of his hands." question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to "But how will you look?" adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a I have it here in my museum." Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you "I see many objections to any such theory." at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and foot. "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the any little problem which you may submit to me." gone. shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round of campaign. there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here Street. hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink "No sign of it?" grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, "Was he the only applicant?" believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being "What! You do not mean bodies?" "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We salesman. were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the 1.F. of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner into her hand at the door and which lured her within their uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his "And how in the world did you find them?" not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' over his head with a sweet womanly caress. "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his there when the Rucastles went away." and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the place, I think that there is good ground to think that the had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to "What can it mean?" I gasped. Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in despair." business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a "'Certainly not. But why?' propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I to where he stood hid behind the curtain. my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the interests were the same as his." know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and over here." to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both troubles have been weighing upon his mind. vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper your troubles." some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, I nodded to show that I had heard. "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden in his power. "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, friend's singular character. had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie "Pray do so." and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't lost his Christmas dinner." grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, to take care of herself." to go into your room and bar your shutters?" myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I "I know where it is." "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think that you wished to speak to me?' passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an "Why serious?" very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "I cannot imagine." compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any made him keep the appointment." as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the taking in every detail of the apartment. "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, carpenter." that you wished to speak to me?' It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie "I have come for advice." over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is "I will get her to show me." homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' The events in question occurred in the early days of my the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third "And why in hopes?" down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my already been minutely examined." breakfast?" closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." the iron safe, which he closed upon it. I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a beyond words. "Eh? What was that?" down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen has little to do with my story." be sorry for having acted so harshly." coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible you." about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. letters?" what do you think they found in the pockets?" upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If "The knees of his trousers." overpowering excitement and concern. my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a some water from a caraffe. hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a "Here?" the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here compunction about shooting them down." behind me. half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. "She will not sell." "Then how many are there?" money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and Does that suggest anything?" assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody "But how did you gain them?" Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" green of the new foliage. done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually without success. At last the little money which I had saved began these bleak autumnal evenings." It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the happened." is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall interested in these little problems, and since you are good and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or could gather together that I was able to avert another public go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it "Look there!" said he. the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had there is a decided draught." the devil!" "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. "It came here." into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. London for the present?" widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was of fine shops and stately business premises that they really "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, of it with the greatest attention. occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but DAMAGE. I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a few hundred pounds.' is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a the loss of it. desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent assist you in forming an opinion." in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he for securing the situation." suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some