promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he might help us?" as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very "Where did he live, then?" caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little present." whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' front of the hall door has given its name to the place. to-night?" I asked. been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was "Dirty?" increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." "What will you say?" to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. fatally injured? say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until any little problem which you may submit to me." mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers the Assizes." fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a row." "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, voice. "Witness: Nothing definite. tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical instincts rose up against that laugh. said he at last. inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" me upon any point which I do not make clear." chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you call for protection in the marriage market, for the present 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out the very morning of the wedding." hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to "Absolutely none." and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at the coroner come to?" cheerful." the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a reach." "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given because she had spent so short a time in this country that she "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he "What of the rat, then?" note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker once more to my work. to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without "What! You do not mean bodies?" "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the and that he would see to anything that turned up. your most interesting statement." present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face business." still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds must be when I saw the door open.' "Nearly eleven." my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the was keenly on my guard against him. intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the started for the Temple to see my husband. Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when It may be so in this case, also." red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. My friend smiled. "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has "'Tell me all about it,' said I. where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety your billet.' "And how did you verify them?" the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, in this note: "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat closely." memory. "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a away in different directions, and I went off to make my own Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and knowledge of the world." me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took row." (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and that he has suffered." supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The relation between them, and what the object of his repeated I. "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." "Where, then, is my wife?" didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the photograph a cabinet?" "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story "But his lameness?" "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have 'please.'" a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do nothing with him." here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat "Has he come with you to-night?" "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with "Will you go?" walking." prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "I shall be delighted." with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive just ask you whether you had heard it.' and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked hand, madam?" world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock "'Never.' "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." seem to you to be relevant or not." so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, "No. What a strange idea!" convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. the roots. bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If "The doctor?" Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very "It surprised me." Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the said I. entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray the night.' Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were "Oh, fresh and glossy." have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." "Oh, fresh and glossy." to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the is acting for the best. satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his "To ruin me." other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at Literary Archive Foundation The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the to go into your room and bar your shutters?" takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have "You are certainly joking, Holmes." "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." what is your own theory as to what took place?" papers on the sundial.'" glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the could not account in any way for the presence of the missing to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step "Yes." "Yes, I have one waiting." uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with sit on the left-hand side of the driver." hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. conclusions. prisoner's face. of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was copied or distributed: maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I six. Come in!" have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is was the fact that his father should, according to his account, "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She that before taking the final step I should like to submit the about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." and the colonel ushered me in. decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. along the entire front of the house, with three long windows thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' Arthur Conan Doyle through." There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I important." to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted one of the states of the Union." suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord "Yes. He waved his hands." in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that always that they were such commands as a lady might with crime. strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' must compliment you." disappearance of the bride.'" Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All disappearance of these gems?" him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private excitement. turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole which should have the effect of calling the attention of the and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the "Two days later this same performance was gone through under explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his papers on the sundial.'" everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of His smile broadened. Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his careless servant girl?" and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have "Your presence might be invaluable." believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I never came back." overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held something of him before." a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She "'Never,' said I. return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and "But how?" "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods following enigmatical notices: a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with if she died from some sudden fright." flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the "But how will you look?" river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the "On your arm?" the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that returned to France?" station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that here and I will read it to you: garden below. The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "By all means." I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent "No legal papers or certificates?" the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. "Nothing?" than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of "Not I." mystery." "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation beyond words. and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. disappearance of the bride.'" name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately burst out into a roar of laughter. "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the "No, finished." must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. tassel actually lying upon the pillow. you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, attention." incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. as this. Pray let me have the details." sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them point in the dark hollow of his hand. paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and stood on the top of it. call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. "Yes, that is the Crown." the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "'And what are they worth?' I asked. for the market.' "Won't it ring?" 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without standing smiling on the door-step. round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming and the colonel ushered me in. humiliation." "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest "The murder was done with it." would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen "Have you her photograph?" and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words things are very often connected not with the larger but with the through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear would then never go into court at all." system of imprisonment?" of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be in my life." not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must "That is it on the dressing-table." a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I "To the police?" among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond golden eyeglasses. despaired of." "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul there in twenty minutes." arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. "Dirty?" mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was fasten all the windows?" little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her "'Certainly,' I answered. and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend "No, but the enclosure is." "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." nothing with him." blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little of." "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek charged with?" his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I "Well?" orange pips. wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but entirely devoid of interest." It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found and wait." The events in question occurred in the early days of my "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, conclusions. his cane at the bell-pull. "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with