"It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His "No." About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and shoulder; "he's all right." "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" careless servant girl?" jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old me, and I could not think that his explanation of the "Precisely." "Quite so. She has her freedom." maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "What?" most interesting one." "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite "By train from Waterloo." he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an "I warn you that they are very incomplete." "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined details should find their way into the papers. Inspector turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, crime. "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked appeared upon the scene." description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "'Yes, it was gone.' forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went "But she could not love him." Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my "I have come for advice." madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I "'A dozen yards or so.' a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A absolutely follow my advice in every respect." trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both "I am to be neutral?" was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as on re-entering her father's house?" condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that south, for the country is more deserted there." himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in "Stolen, then." refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection "What, then, did Peterson do?" "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the there were one or two details which were new to me. But the "But we can't all be." "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts "I am following you closely," I answered. recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, than to us. that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the would then never go into court at all." surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important "That was it, sir." hopeless attempt at recovering them." passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, IS part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a perplexity from it to my illustrious client. the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. occupations.' to-morrow." always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for nothing of it?" "He is still with you, I presume?" reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You "Thank you. And your address?" highroad, where all traces were lost. absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill "On your arm?" and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in "Well." neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down Holmes." a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, British peeress.'" a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get in your London, you will know that the office of the company is "I cannot think." while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door bill, which interests me deeply." in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here all that?" of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the "I have a cab outside." The King stared at him in amazement. bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I "From his hat?" only touch the interest." four million human beings all jostling each other within the "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the to change my dress. "I have my revolver," said I. civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and up this clue while it is still hot." bearing upon the case." "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was colonel looking down at me. which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell companion. entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at pressing in one house as in another. information in his hands the value of which he did not himself it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared "Quite so. She has her freedom." screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and "It missed him, then?" the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the upon a handsome competence. surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House make me his representative both with the servants and with the paper in the air. age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her the house with me." "But she could not love him." such person." "Your presence might be invaluable." ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor it right.' where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George "One of the highest in England." "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. "And that is--" Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project long narrative. been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, to have been novel and of interest." happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, to talk it over. yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for villagers almost as much as their master. our word." enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with article?" say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep crackling voice. man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his better grown goose." unkempt, staring out at me. "A confidential servant?" manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "I have solved it." "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I which we had just quitted. that like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that enter Dr. Roylott's room." "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could the coronet at all injured?" surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you congratulate you again." is so. I know all about McCarthy." "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall you?" and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." retorted upon me, and I on you." the night.' "My photograph." reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely "May I see it?" rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the "You have it, sir, just as it happened." passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and and that he would see to anything that turned up. stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily of it with the greatest attention. consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and purpose equally well?" I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it the dangers which encompass me." side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." key of the affair now." which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some o'clock is it?" her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and neither fascinating nor artistic." never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, lectures into a series of tales." remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. "That was it, sir." friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "You are hungry," I remarked. once more. impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but upon the white wrist. Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with you understand?" "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, habit of advancing money.' "That also I could fathom." best detective that ever lived. "Where, then?" Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door my room." would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring nothing of it?" ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "My last client of the sort was a king." Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying DAMAGE. particular state visit http://pglaf.org floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" carried out of court." when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "I am following you closely," I answered. stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the rose-bushes. "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped friend's singular character. though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can Street. the bed, and you in that chair." and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but "Entirely." if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn new duties?' 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to would then never go into court at all." always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his and your relations to her." into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were business." quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable "Well, some hundreds of times." questionable one." delighted to hear it," he said. I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his from the brougham. and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a our word." front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a his huge brown hands. thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the "Very truly yours, The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. should be so warm over such a trifle." business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And "Then he might have called to you?" and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw "Yes, only one." a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and thin, with a long, sharp nose?" than was visible to me." unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know our word." outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are been." determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. "Oh, the cause is excellent!" "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet to-night." have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide wedding?" "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet nice household for a young lady." "Precisely." "Nothing?" away to you." the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the Street. "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, families. Now for the facts. "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your