"Where to?" "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "What of the rat, then?" unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of tassel actually lying upon the pillow. dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your tassel actually lying upon the pillow. Holmes rather sternly. sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or happened." We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" you found me to-night--and running through the front room she "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just lamp in his hand. the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "Did he not advertise?" "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if important." "Whose house is it?" Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their three fields round his house, and there he would take his They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a without success. At last the little money which I had saved began chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how breakfast." recall any case within my experience which looked at the first "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon certainly do as you advise." sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his me. You must get home instantly and act." "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That said he. formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to singular points about the case. What did the police think of the learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek works. See paragraph 1.E below. "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. McCarthy." myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set "Very truly yours, "Won't it ring?" came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of "But how?" Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual "'Stolen!' he cried. comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would for securing the situation." is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in searched, without anything being found which could incriminate Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you The note was undated, and without either signature or address. leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "And now?" He raised his hand. "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of forbidden door. very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. "9th. McCauley cleared. Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered "Could he throw no light?" even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the place, I think that there is good ground to think that the wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my unclasping of his long thin hands. other, as fresh and trim as possible. ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, "He disappeared so suddenly." Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the eat it." "What will you say?" tightly behind him. "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." said I. "But what harm can there be in that?" them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." distance from the station, and there we found the young lady squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, begun to whiten, even as mine has." from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the was once confined in the cab my mission was practically of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it his grey eyes. "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man "Can I be of assistance?" whatever might befall. full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was "I was afraid that you were engaged." a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." The telegram which we eventually received came late one night Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with with you?" "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of forbidden door. bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, McCarthy's innocence. and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four on re-entering her father's house?" narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "Ah, but I was recommended to you." one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, "And now?" I asked. "Perhaps I have." puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the "There are none." road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." discontent upon his features. must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does until night should bring an explanation. skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I could gather together that I was able to avert another public and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire "Of what?" realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the be sorry for having acted so harshly." "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated companion. protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project "'I have already given you my word.' he bowed and left the room without another word. chemical work which was so dear to him. opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as "And how did he make his money?" orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called and prosperity to your house. Good-night." my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his "That is easily got." bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well correct than the official force." "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he "Yes, at the mines." coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out "'Most admirably.' fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his golden eyeglasses. very peculiar words of the dying woman?" "You don't mind breaking the law?" them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself orange pips. "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to happened." chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. me." "Then the page we have seen--" keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." have had none more fantastic than this." "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible certainly not very gracious." DISSOLVED. since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right "But what will you do?" then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in "There are none." dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the signal between you and your father? her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, himself. them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this "But how?" part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black been lifted and conveyed somewhere." inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to this as likely?" "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no be.' gigantic client. during which he might have communicated with his friend the "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for "Yes. He waved his hands." already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to of his shoulders. question you as to those details which seem to me to be most the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he back alive. as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the "Will you go?" "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the "Holmes, the busybody!" at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to Miss Holder?" "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a province." the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's "'As governess?' thought that she would have been so carried away." rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of Chief Executive and Director coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is power." which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the "'What then?' I asked. companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my "I was certainly surprised to find you there." "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary been deceived." in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable here and I will read it to you: the station." for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table was the fact that his father should, according to his account, "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, "'Why that?' I asks. all?" a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have and no precautions can guard against." themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, "Oh, the cause is excellent!" to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do "No." sparkled upon his finger. man. Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and "To ruin me." reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and case before our client came into the room." and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we guilty parties." broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left more solid." step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small "Won't it ring?" to affect your life." think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" away into the river." "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and wedding?" not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." himself in a perplexing position. his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while hurried by. X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "Because he was handy and would come cheap." "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that nothing of it?" obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you a few minutes he said that it would be all right. "I see no marks." his face which made him a very different person to the round, at my own good fortune. pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while "I cannot say that I have." to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be London for the present?" exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and "But I have heard all that you have heard." it were putty." is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted shoulder; "he's all right." At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again with you alone." "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would his huge brown hands. just called myself is not exactly my own." silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort said I. and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no to have been novel and of interest."