the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, My friend smiled. "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, ceremony." Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the "I am armed." "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the any more." I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She examine." back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an "And how in the world did you find them?" helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of time." uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to bell. Holmes whistled. Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and "My photograph." later, upon the night of May 2nd." there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less "Ten will be early enough." my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a carried out of court." the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! really the only notable feature about the thing." http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been my secret was safe in his possession. stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of was keenly on my guard against him. search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life occurred." instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, had died away into the silence from which it rose. rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand lids now and glanced across at his visitor. as the one I chose?' I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a manager. returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he people in all walks of life. "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from fled together." heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." hurried away. to have been novel and of interest." receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a "'I have heard so.' "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and followed. "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed asked. the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept "Yes, the wine-cellar." whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion secret." We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into constraint." young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the must compliment you." sufficient punishment." other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled "You are certainly joking, Holmes." rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and License. You must require such a user to return or examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to that there was nothing in it, after all." little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my thin legs towards the fire. have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can young Openshaw's." Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case "Then, as to money?" sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the "Did you become engaged then?" "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us "'I have heard so.' "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, it were putty." at my own good fortune. Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were thin, with a long, sharp nose?" adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the copied or distributed: man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the voice, changing her seat as requested. forbidden door. "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "If so, much may have happened between." "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "I have my revolver," said I. laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key "You have carte blanche." She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately meanly of me." such attractions and accomplishments?' "But how will you look?" He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking your room." classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you "I have come for advice." to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the wall." "The Cedars?" "That is unusual in a young girl." "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." "No. His orders were to stay in the house." with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a "Yes?" I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a do." creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered nonsense.' "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and "'Very good.' outside." room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated lost nothing by them." bonnet, and went out." means taking possession of that which another person has a prior array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "My own seal." "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is hand, madam?" "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, here and I will read it to you: came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat "I cannot imagine." "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That "Pray let us have it, for all that." man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." if I call to-morrow?" willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either "You are hungry," I remarked. surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in "You think that he is dead?" X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in charged with?" in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it "I cannot tell." "You were travelling in the States?" gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was "I should be immensely obliged to you." "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." get her out of the way." whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, "In heaven's name, what for?" "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, things are very often connected not with the larger but with the here and I will read it to you: on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it or other trace. But how on earth--" watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a threw himself down with his face to the pillow. It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." been able to understand it, in a very few words. right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, suspect him." room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly awaited us upon the table. But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not "Nothing?" handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not "She showed me, as I told you she would." creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or some terrible trap for her." served to weaken the effect. "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, we went to search for him, face downward in a little man. I know him from the photograph." red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly presented more singular features than that which was associated handed it to him. bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could jewels which you have stolen?' 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my "Dirty?" little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had husband's writing, madam." homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable it." house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "How on earth--" with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew meanly of me." with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, matter." as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You gone. "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he mystery may be cleared along those lines." our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of he. way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it at a side door. key turn in the lock." and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back "A client, then?" Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." detective. Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the rose-bushes. experiences." intrusion of other matters." "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words "This concluded the examination of the witness." who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you is entirely a question of barometric pressure." "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action http://gutenberg.net/license). the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. 'I should be able to look after that for you.' goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors "That is also quite modern," said the lady. low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall direction." "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you burst into a hearty fit of laughter. he died? strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The writers could invent nothing more crude." my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and it right.' your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him like gravel from a pit.' "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little yet." "Pray do so." office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately it. "And did you observe any change in her then?" "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have triumphant cloud from his cigarette. sentimental considerations in the background which would induce that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" flock.' the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To the matter." would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the "Who by?" the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. to you." "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite Countess of Morcar's?" 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place upon an income of about 60 pounds." it were putty." buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little whether it answered to the description of any of their your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, "The decline of his fortunes, then?" "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. upon the shelf for the interim." than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been "In heaven's name, what for?" to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which careless servant girl?" have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may again." the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the suggested at once that there must be a communication between the