seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or dear old homesteads?" Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. away to you." Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "But you would not advise me to refuse?" Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled "One of his hands." along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, like that before?" again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, dates and names. "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It words came to my lips. thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same footfalls from the street. room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured "'Then let me do so?' great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that some mystery and the punishment of some crime." than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that him, that man would not have given me such complete information "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, front of me. "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from Foundation X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase companion. said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him from you?" animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is neither fascinating nor artistic." interests were the same as his." "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so himself to tell his story. "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled my little problems." suspect him." of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no indiscretion." "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another "Precisely so. But how--" dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland when your master had gone out." Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as to affect your life." promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, "How did he come?" "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you you." the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then "Yesterday." folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of "I have come for advice." beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a "I cannot imagine." "You horrify me." registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to Have you good authority for what you say?" very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his "I was sure that I might rely on you." "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." where Mr. Fordham shows you.' other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every disappearance of these gems?" "I think that it is very probable." In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in "You are all wrong." upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with nothing of it?" occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and what these perils are?" upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to works. one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. when you have done it." greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever prove to be little relation between the different incidents of "No. His orders were to stay in the house." could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, client, rising. danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most away in different directions, and I went off to make my own pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. "Her father is very rich?" and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." other means.' Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental and your relations to her." "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. "She walked into the breakfast-room." was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable I. "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt "Quite so. She has her freedom." The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments "Game for a morning drive?" Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "Will you bet, then?" narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, a suggestive one." "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his Dr. Gregory B. Newby wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and into the room. problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who "It is to him that this trophy belongs." was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." me what he had done with the three missing stones. imbecility!" he cried. actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying relief. "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One the house with me." "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the "About a month then." about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. "Why? What do you mean?" "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we little trying to do so much typewriting?" his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and even so self-evident a thing as that." The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, observed. opportunities to fix the problem. he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All views." will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my she to prove their authenticity?" "Entirely." of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with was once confined in the cab my mission was practically Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. even so self-evident a thing as that." liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an room?" the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. constraint." protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the "I am about to be married." is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. dramatic, in fact." "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own over his head with a sweet womanly caress. feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are shall not find me ungrateful." in this note: "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up detained." answer." wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a breakfast?" used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote IS me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently someone who had been in Australia." "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which train.' breakfast?" pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen kind enough to tell me what I should do." served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle "'Yes.' follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself Edgeware Road. jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of row." "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the touch that coronet?' enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must been able to understand it, in a very few words. strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" I held the little printed slip to the light. "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I pictures, libraries, or plate. the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he me. You must get home instantly and act." It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful chance at all." "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four remarked. father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the away into the river." with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution strong reason behind." have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with that, and I came down." quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less ashen face. man. I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea writers could invent nothing more crude." however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer McCarthy." stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he "I never have." that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we some mystery and the punishment of some crime." latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow License. You must require such a user to return or to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But Arthur Conan Doyle London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were characteristics, but those are the more obvious." green of the new foliage. my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending "Look there!" said he. tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought Mrs. Toller serenely. following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go unprofitable." returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently a room. at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, works. pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' seen the man in the road." found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A "Then the page we have seen--" "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is "Then you may be so with me." which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was gone. "My dear Holmes!" all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his opportunities to fix the problem. second." "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for despaired of." seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and "To the police?" "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the "I beg pardon." their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I I approached. do.' in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to on re-entering her father's house?" there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all thought that she would have been so carried away." solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the not, dad?" she asked. though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." and laid it on the table. he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation "You heard nothing yourself last night?" strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. three fields round his house, and there he would take his "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is foresight and the moral retrogression?" side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that room?" that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my "Can I be of assistance?" that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have appeared upon the scene." reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the article?" where we are going." at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. the side-table." "Stoke Moran?" said he. when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might