back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention during the last few years, and there are many noble families to the bed, and you in that chair." was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty foresight and the moral retrogression?" minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." up this clue while it is still hot." words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you will find little credit to be gained out of this case." Street. over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring "'I shall certainly be there.' saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable hair?' lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector certainly do as you advise." betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, of the way of danger. widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done remarked. past. smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well threw himself down with his face to the pillow. "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near "'I am sure if I had known--' fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with wife's character?" garden below. "'Yes, it was gone.' "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you lips." "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged of the vacancies.' quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in his face which made him a very different person to the round, "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, "Did you become engaged then?" newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in tell me that you intended to go into harness." with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs very old mansion. "That you are never beaten." lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly my little problems." young Openshaw's." back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out plantation.' copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative clanging. objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study peculiar to him. "Here?" I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings as noiselessly as she had come. which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. "Then he might have called to you?" in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of pound a week." it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, "Very. But will he see it?" young Openshaw's." Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, it? Did I buy the geese off you?" considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, which it had come upon my father." and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible your own bird, so if you wish--" he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some several quiet little villages up there." as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which "It is his hat." were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "You have compromised yourself seriously." "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" there in twenty minutes." "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray one else, I think." idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. success. "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining It was close upon four before the door opened, and a "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. the best of training." wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is acted in my house last night?" I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I side. door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It true." matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must "How about poison?" black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I DAMAGE. or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. "No, finished." turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, the Red-headed League." you, my dear young lady?' are, and they are waiting for us." "It was an hour's good drive." which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to very peculiar words of the dying woman?" constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with "I am following you closely," I answered. "Then I am your man." we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every American. Then who could this American be, and why should he The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it "Look there!" said he. status with the IRS. shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business "What!" he roared. hour?' terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their "Yes, it was twisted." us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we that, and I came down." a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other if only as a check to my own memory." "Have you it here?" believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. http://gutenberg.net/license). overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. had a long day." is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock address. Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which telegram would bring me down to your help." "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the furiously. "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be "I am still in the dark." "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question "Well?" "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the his cane at the bell-pull. to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of important." sufficient punishment." sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been it." form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable my friend's incisive reasoning. and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, "Imitated." even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the "A greater distance to travel." souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his "None. Neville wrote those words." son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." "Yes, they were peculiar boots." 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe "I think that I had better go, Holmes." It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the once more. exactly what you advise." said I. "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. crime." that, and I came down." thin legs towards the fire. position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, affection." Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom newspaper selections." the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the good-night and bustled off upon her way. another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips quickly through a disagreeable task. newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. very peculiar words of the dying woman?" "Yes, but only for you and me." upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" over his head with a sweet womanly caress. and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet his wife has ceased to love him." against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You could not account in any way for the presence of the missing satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, "On your arm?" contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich the armchair which I pushed forward for him. on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. fattened it expressly for you.' Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for me what he had done with the three missing stones. you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. into her hand at the door and which lured her within their "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not "Yes, from Horsham." "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague you came in." know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for mystery may be cleared along those lines." very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently "I promise," said Holmes. waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such approach us with offers to donate. week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, his grey eyes. "VIOLET HUNTER." Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any lips." "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it appeal." for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower death." "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his as he folded up the epistle. village inn over there?" address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, infinite languor in his face. to have that photograph." have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you "Precisely." be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the call the police, let the police find what they can.' "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it of." he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said points to suicide?" "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has address. the armchair which I pushed forward for him. condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most presented which may be striking and bizarre without being Countess of Morcar's?" "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael tightly behind him. foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place stood on the top of it. road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle unprecedented a position." What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" "Was he the only applicant?" "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. "My dear Holmes!" "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an "I say that I have solved it." of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at written. works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg "I was sure that I might rely on you." "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is I was concerned in it." take the flies, but not before." "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" cause to be." "I was certainly surprised to find you there." family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and crackling voice. "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. you in your example." to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until "If I can be of use." tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in voice, changing her seat as requested. of the way of danger. the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never them present such singular features as the strange train of came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He Arthur Conan Doyle was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction swore that no one else had been in the front room during the closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right