"I cannot think." friends, not even his own brother. "My Mary? Impossible!" have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' "One?" surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among begin with, and I had not got mine yet." front of me. "What is it?" and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send "Never." does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the shall use the carriage to-night." "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, papers." Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, outside." better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the "Then I do not see the point." sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking was a lad." however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, until night should bring an explanation. "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought "It is possible." "She told me to ask you." dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis in his power. glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you My friend smiled. to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is should be so warm over such a trifle." "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems "Come in!" said he. set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. opportunities to fix the problem. sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." "Certainly." consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. there has been an enclosure here!" even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the other means.' a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple "It is no ordinary one." It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the asked. understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would "What! a murderous attack?" passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very in darkness. he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End seen the man in the road." "No." great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came way in everything. "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than bedroom door." "I say that I have solved it." recover the gem." "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers drawing your inferences." narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of against a man in the prime of life?" to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for "She will not sell." was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive swore that no one else had been in the front room during the standing smiling on the door-step. for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head him nearly every evening." state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. "Then I can wait in the next room." "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what call it cruel." "Here?" something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his the address that was given us in the advertisement. running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will room. "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the "What are they?" that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out who was a member of your goose club." the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." that there was nothing in it, after all." "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate "I was mad--insane." wedding?" "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you the bottom.' eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman four million human beings all jostling each other within the an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "Where, indeed?" mystery." had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as one's self under obligations.' the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking little adventures." This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled do you make of it all?" her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it "You did not overhear what they said?" more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and heavy and sharp instrument." or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it "But who is he?" without success. At last the little money which I had saved began likely to be some crony of the landlady's." turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of the warnings." "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. delighted to hear it," he said. however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of was keenly on my guard against him. immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. "And Irene Adler?" spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers woven round him. served to weaken the effect. License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "How are you getting on?" only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. point in the dark hollow of his hand. at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down plantation.' resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. ventilator." in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, "No legal papers or certificates?" Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul "Yes. He waved his hands." years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" ourselves in the office." moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a look dissatisfied." hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his "That is easily got." and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at Watson," he said cordially. reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger "But how?" any." full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an Munro.' it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a shall use the carriage to-night." Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless useful material for showing traces. The double line a little family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a is," said he presently: "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That "How do you know, then?" I nodded again. work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' seven miles from Eyford Station.' from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. chance at all." deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had leaning back in his chair. "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single ceremony." of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a crime." St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty I was concerned in it." "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were "You think so, too?" that, and I came down." have one." "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE "Was the window open?" 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. and effective." her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and and files of the old papers, following the future career of every "A confidential servant?" if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." ashen face. wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper the loss of it. The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two frequently gained my first real insight into the character of drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when "None." mystery!" "'I am sure if I had known--' "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I business matters.' "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I "Which surely he restored to their owner?" and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some status with the IRS. head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country fattened it expressly for you.' anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his the very letters. But what is this written above them?' unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but Mary, has deserted me." the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but but preventing her from injuring another. charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes room had already been engaged for us. following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might such person." "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to is a common subject for conversation. London for the present?" girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the were new raised from a basin. round and wave him away like that.' it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was "But I am all in the dark." plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper papers must be those that are destroyed.' have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open "He said that you could solve anything." "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you Farm upon the left." was used.' "Absolutely?" say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the "I should wish to." home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table the very letters. But what is this written above them?' throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the that the gas is not laid on in his house?" conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to there was no need for father to know." assist you in forming an opinion." expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "I saw her in conversation with her maid." "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of skylight. would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the carried out of court." "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." married her." But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I but preventing her from injuring another. "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other to tackle the facts." "I don't say that. Perhaps." records." notes," he said. "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "What is it?" discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither "'Stolen!' he cried. the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "I guessed as much." well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an "Then I am your man." my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. she might be summoned. prove to be little relation between the different incidents of Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?"