Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "I don't believe it." science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled he bowed and left the room without another word. to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back during which he might have communicated with his friend the the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the to have that photograph." what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and nothing with him." "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' made his money." houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of was used.' lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined remarked. "Well, some hundreds of times." "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my "No." yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and "That is unusual in a young girl." reach." "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I "Have you her photograph?" complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate garden below. along the entire front of the house, with three long windows he died? intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might do.' matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock the coronet at all injured?" out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a clang of the bell. "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his prisoner's face. my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the never to learn it at all." Edgeware Road. hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than "Can I be of assistance?" amused." very morning of my second wedding." he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much "Is he quiet?" certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came "Won't it ring?" is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and about. "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and later, upon the night of May 2nd." has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "You have a clue?" "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country to tell." bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to in one or two places in England?' Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. "What?" me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, sake, don't!" me what he had done with the three missing stones. "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six on re-entering her father's house?" "How did you deduce the select?" animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this "'What, the red-headed man?' answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. business at Coburg Square is serious." considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this existence." salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding coat-tails." Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short of his shoulders. of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" opened the door, and slipped through. "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my plantation.' hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a questioning and rather startled gaze. see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much his wife has ceased to love him." Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to upon the sideboard." would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him "I will get her to show me." paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but http://gutenberg.net/license). he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the "He might." had picked up in the wood. the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the congenial hunt. fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, started for the Temple to see my husband. have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the of Mr. Rucastle's." "I will try. What is it?" "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was the coroner come to?" It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after "I have hopes." and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in Street. "But we can't all be." the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; tell me that you intended to go into harness." a few minutes he said that it would be all right. perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your to-night?" I asked. house for five minutes.' were new raised from a basin. to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding "But of what society?" at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as breakfast." young Openshaw's." person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the once more. recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a "Because he was handy and would come cheap." relation between them, and what the object of his repeated the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of "How often?" woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook amused." shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what carriage. It was a chestnut." public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our are, I think, all that we need." "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to in the port of London." carpenter." delighted to hear it," he said. "Yes, sir." been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of letters?" the dangers which encompass me." "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as "An enemy?" phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' "Then I shall certainly come." the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his it right.' heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the "He said too much." way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees beg that you will break it off." without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation himself to tell his story. brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug and prosperity to your house. Good-night." month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." "Precisely." an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss "That was it, sir." "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, and put his glass in his pocket. to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of in the dead of the night?' eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes cigars in their mouths. present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "'I am sure if I had known--' that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden pound a week." it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' "You know me, then?" "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign "And how have you succeeded?" "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For from you?" bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the sake, don't!" shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit "I was afraid that you were engaged." considering the formidable letters which were received by himself The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." "Eh? What was that?" screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same "It may not come to that," said Holmes. occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under "Not I." temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed "'What would be the hours?' I asked. matters immensely." go from here to the Strand." kind enough to tell me what I should do." fasten all the windows?" weighed down with some great anxiety. his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he "Certainly." at a side door. beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." test if we have an answer to our advertisement." humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. you in your example." lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the a good hundred miles off by now." "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly carried out of court." of." if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "Certainly." "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. "Then I can wait in the next room." my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have behind me. I was concerned in it." the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite than to us. half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my pressing in one house as in another. with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of III. then?" window when the police appeared." been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest "That sounds a little paradoxical." than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of man. Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety promised to bring home. my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him "It is no ordinary one." Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all that I can to serve you." Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple "Yes." be.' fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst "A confidential servant?" grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while case-book, which he consulted. light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He "Whose house is it?" manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her suspect him." "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and The events in question occurred in the early days of my you in your example." continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to IS key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door fled together." Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us where she found matters as described by the last witness. should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. Where does the thing come from?' from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, and a shock of very red hair. "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same not come at once?" pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to detective. "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your because she had spent so short a time in this country that she "What!" he roared. much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting "Nothing." find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be could not have written that. It is the German who is so them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." province." as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the second." the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose the inner apartment." conceal it?"