of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the "What is it?" "What will you say?" "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat License. You must require such a user to return or him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That Arthur Conan Doyle in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to asked. I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." sofa. This way, please!" "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside "Did you observe the colour?" Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that do.' with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the events, Mr. Windibank!" breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my the loss of it. firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "It goes to the housekeeper's room." at home. outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps was a loud and authoritative tap. next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. "One?" my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the "Yesterday." "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon "Will you bet, then?" "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This allusion to a rat. matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course fled together." leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution all-comprehensive glances. Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the "None." opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the begun to whiten, even as mine has." I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he deduce something from that?" threw himself down with his face to the pillow. bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than Literary Archive Foundation that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. "'Is purely nominal.' and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, "BALLARAT." matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. question. a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "Texas, I think." Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is in a friendly supper." question. "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his was not a bird to be seen there. "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue "One?" singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." "Of what day?" "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, "My dear Holmes!" Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed "You don't mind breaking the law?" also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, is now desirous of getting those letters back." left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a companion. the Assizes." Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I as the one I chose?' of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen tied." his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my garden below. was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his "Entirely." "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy the inner apartment." Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of fact, we may call it conclusive." stepfather?" "And I." which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a lumber-room." "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and intrusion of other matters." "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is and it need not interfere very much with one's other the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the through." where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he "May I see it?" It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few of them has the shutters up.' my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I learned something! Where are the gems?" "None." hand, madam?" wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My when you have done it." laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, people in all walks of life. the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. with you?" allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less burst into a hearty fit of laughter. "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. his grey eyes. permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. asked. cigar and let me expound." lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and begun to whiten, even as mine has." "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's will he say when he returns?" "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. hurried by. Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat correct than the official force." dramatic, in fact." must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain "You are hungry," I remarked. plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the events than those which have happened in my own family." preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. sneer upon his pale face. clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the "'Never,' said I. "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears your billet.' the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" them, and came down just as you departed. and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would against a man in the prime of life?" "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as strode off upon his way. call for protection in the marriage market, for the present said he at last. many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to "'Is 4 pounds a week.' grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. His name is Francis Prosper." "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position most interesting one." politicians who had been sent down from the North. I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this "How often?" "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the in this note: girl said." Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be nonsense.' long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum have had none more fantastic than this." "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. fashion which was peculiar to him. was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of situation." importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by business at Coburg Square is serious." that I may have something better before very many minutes are "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see is worth.' burst into a hearty fit of laughter. "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her observed. mystery." appeal." "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you to where he stood hid behind the curtain. course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low certainly not very gracious." years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a "I warn you that they are very incomplete." A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked details should find their way into the papers. Inspector "And is that all?" time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question generous with you in money matters.' "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near you." have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in case-book, which he consulted. that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for get the tickets." have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true "I am about to be married." the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he coat-tails." the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the once more for Briony Lodge. "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see that he will be back before evening." tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project man. I know him from the photograph." "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium despair." Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds way in everything. pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four touch that coronet?' lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my "My last client of the sort was a king." given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his "But he might be a bachelor." Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if murdered man." down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. "Very truly yours, "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to past. breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. matters immensely." It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. galvanised. someone who had been in Australia." him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "What then?" Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his him and tried to hold him back. was once confined in the cab my mission was practically the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had look upon these things in a different way." I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled a monotonous occupation." more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa *** START: FULL LICENSE *** "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your the window, rose as we entered. of this gang." surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "Indeed! Whose, then?" we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the retorted upon me, and I on you." an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. ourselves in the office." "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City "'Never.' the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." you." highroad, where all traces were lost. opened a pocket-book and took out a note. was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" without a word or a look. "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush brought there to personate someone, and the real person is did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must