But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he present strange and interesting features that it is no easy showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who the Assizes." clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had tapping his fingers upon the table. tapping his fingers upon the table. his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, to have been novel and of interest." are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; for its centre. pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which tail." I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his pity, because in other respects you would really have done very dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, "Come in!" said he. "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "Because he was handy and would come cheap." in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all might help us?" have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was past. residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away Again Holmes raved in the air. "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if What do you deduce from it?" occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, "'Oh, no.' all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "Did your wife hear all this?" "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our "Perfectly so." fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads the general public were present, then?" "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the "How did you trace it, then?" "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." "Oh, yes, easily." "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman papers must be those that are destroyed.' returning from some small jollification and was making his way from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or 'I should be able to look after that for you.' the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who "Eh? What was that?" business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as a suggestive one." band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced then?" "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of narrative." "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, to his chemical studies. must be when I saw the door open.' mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which do.' has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "Yes, the wine-cellar." have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation of note-paper. It read in this fashion: "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly sneer upon his pale face. next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." as the one I chose?' "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing could go. upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of "But of what society?" say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper "Because he was handy and would come cheap." look upon these things in a different way." "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so six. Come in!" The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there that I am arrested." receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a villagers almost as much as their master. "My private note-paper." eavesdroppers?' Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had he died? and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to all-comprehensive glances. your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." and your relations to her." with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do "Then you may be so with me." hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their the driver. "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we "'Is purely nominal.' "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" "And what did you see?" look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his was shining brightly. bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it little trying to do so much typewriting?" quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which noting anything else of interest. of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried in darkness. open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "I would give my fortune to have them back." arms and began to sob in a high treble key. I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that following enigmatical notices: absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep "I was mad--insane." "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" "'About the same.' "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in that?' fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in You want to know what became of those geese?" mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose kind enough to tell me what I should do." me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching strong reason behind." it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at "Just look it up, then." "'Where could I find him?' stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and the night.' "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ "Nearly eleven." should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." "That's no good." murdered man." Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert do.' It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some "On your arm?" chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which "Was your sister dressed?" great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would "I answered that I had not. dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. "Yes." He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "I have hopes." a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his "9th. McCauley cleared. anything to a woman, for she would have her way." a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and "In the cells." electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never answer." mysterious business." time." "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. any." cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he "But of what society?" "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your assist you in forming an opinion." window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used do." the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of interests were the same as his." that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with "It was." chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly is so. I know all about McCarthy." "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. mysterious end." beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would strong and stiff." hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads fishes. "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her "Why, it's a dummy," said he. itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, III. go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. get the tickets." with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, "'I have already given you my word.' laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." him and tried to hold him back. occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. the night.' "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the completely overtopped every other consideration that we both in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black be best to do. strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an "By train from Waterloo." "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your experiences." "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair "At the wedding breakfast." Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before "I never have." for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it come either from the window or the door. My attention was bed dies. Does not that strike you?" The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom assist you in forming an opinion." He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. chair. shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been there were so many in the whole country as were brought together copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could such person." address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left Mrs. Toller serenely. "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind "'A dozen yards or so.' conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the outbreak?" should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "But of what society?" right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would "I was mad--insane." then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His "A thing like a cleaver," said he. Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if examine." right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the "I don't believe it." "In the cells." which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean events, Mr. Windibank!" however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! the stable lane now." room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," know all about it," he snarled. believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in good-night and bustled off upon her way. the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are jewels which you have stolen?' test if we have an answer to our advertisement." insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may business in the City. She little knew what. known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great redistribution. with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from "We must have a cab." have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is "That sounds a little paradoxical." will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small generous with you in money matters.' these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt she has been waylaid. There has been no result." "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the seem to you to be relevant or not." "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with ashen face. that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, quick march!" not within a twentieth part of the market price." a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from will be renamed. "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I "Nor running a chance of arrest?" Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a against a man in the prime of life?"