"'I have already given you my word.' would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go in my life." at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an "And you don't know his address?" said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is to his chemical studies. "Which surely he restored to their owner?" practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really carriage. It was a chestnut." License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. "'What do you call purely nominal?' "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come instituted." the devil!" screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." the loss of it. you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be power." hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the I held the little printed slip to the light. of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will where Mr. Fordham shows you.' his face which made him a very different person to the round, "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are of this gang." dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he "Pray do so." Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely fattened it expressly for you.' that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I thin legs towards the fire. other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest roused himself from his reverie. half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such I am not easy in my mind about them." chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in only touch the interest." Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow Young McCarthy must be got off, however." drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "Do you go out much in society?" to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "I am following you closely," I answered. all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of memory. exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest I was concerned in it." "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of "Yes, only one." "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. bachelor.' but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall should be so warm over such a trifle." firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "Yesterday." actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "Won't it ring?" down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in "No." "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens "The knees of his trousers." SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached but preventing her from injuring another. overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. since then to throw any light upon what became of him." became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give "'About the same.' "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my "I cannot as yet see any connection." made him keep the appointment." turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself see a sister of mine apply for." walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more I took the paper from him and read as follows: this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from was lame." seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of "I would pay ten." strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in not as remarkable as your advertisement." "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her "Who by?" would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be key of the affair now." cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most power." if I call to-morrow?" usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my the matter." with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a husband's writing, madam." you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport second." very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. examine." he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. "You have compromised yourself seriously." corner of the building. against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, "Nothing." heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." Henry Baker is a member." its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that in the dead of the night?' some water from a caraffe. are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside "Thank you. Pray proceed." "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' name is different." conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the you give your casting vote to?" red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. unprofitable." as yours." became a certainty. is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from "Nothing." village inn over there?" During two years I have had three consultations and one small I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this "Stoke Moran?" said he. gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" instituted." in him." "Precisely." robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project "The Cedars?" connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" I am not easy in my mind about them." Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to bears upon the case?" "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is fish-monger and a tide-waiter." which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here "Very truly yours, him, that man would not have given me such complete information the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained "Yes." Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that hopeless attempt at recovering them." change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. "Entirely." would then never go into court at all." through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or go from here to the Strand." "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On heavy and sharp instrument." fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we had picked up in the wood. the King without delay." lids now and glanced across at his visitor. very morning of my second wedding." the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which "You will not go there first?" accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. third from London." central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that "None." suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we lost his Christmas dinner." At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had disturbance in my wife." Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. "In the cells." foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" he. thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him you in yours." lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst here and I will read it to you: electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, "Your French gold?" your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has "He disappeared so suddenly." Holmes' room. "You have but to name it." mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the point in the dark hollow of his hand. his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. the coroner come to?" wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't be sorry for having acted so harshly." brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS of this gang." "But how?" client, rising. to you." "To an English lawyer named Norton." "Never." other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon "That is easily got." he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to jewels which you have stolen?' Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped you in yours." ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, this as likely?" you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined there has been an enclosure here!" "But the mystery?" again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: "No, I think that I'll take it." "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public "Whose house is it?" have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a definite end. this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar that you saw all that I did." pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, formed some opinion?" which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the that there was nothing in it, after all." along the entire front of the house, with three long windows you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands enough to aid us in our search." national property. I was determined that the law should have its he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" highly," said Holmes. Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his nonsense.' "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I "Could he throw no light?" have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly cigars in their mouths. yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "You have but to name it." utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman the King without delay." souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to "You were travelling in the States?" ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor a room. and glanced through. records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and drove away. "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay emerged. "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All "A thing like a cleaver," said he. solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight lids now and glanced across at his visitor. One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where "It came here." that there was nothing in it, after all." vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking prisoner's face. already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from "Yes." regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man to talk it over. adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it "Not him." "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." appointment with me for six o'clock?" "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious kind enough to tell me what I should do." "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled digesting their breakfasts at home." incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." you found me to-night--and running through the front room she the south-west, I see." January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the chair. been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed existence." as he folded up the epistle. great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The shall not find me ungrateful." 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. outside. tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in affair. caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' sufficient punishment." that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the