"'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself Project Gutenberg-tm works. the tragedy. learned something! Where are the gems?" train.' quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them "I cannot think." Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. astonishment. Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and "Absolutely none." smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do ordinary clothes on?" "So it appears." shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your The police have openly confessed that they can at present make the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. James Windibank. Voilà tout!" Pool. course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out awkward doing business with an alias." Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations gone. "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he orange pips. "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" "It was an hour's good drive." company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his "What can you not understand?" and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away the King without delay." "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the and glanced through. stalked out of the room. with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" shall use the carriage to-night." your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a have had none more fantastic than this." "'How far from the body?' that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the "My photograph." blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a returned to France?" you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried has little to do with my story." occurred." she used." have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. of campaign. could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have strength in the others." may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the "In heaven's name, what for?" frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent "I do." fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I "But to whom?" and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry golden eyeglasses. It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the are, I think, all that we need." of the vacancies.' grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that Farm upon the left." "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" she to prove their authenticity?" of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true which was all perfectly true. "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic you." in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his "One horse?" interjected Holmes. "No more words. Get out!" story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we "'There is a drive, then?' "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, lamp in his hand. machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every morning." signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. "'Certainly not. But why?' other means.' the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It strength in the others." "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before Leave Paddington by the 11:15." remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without "Proceed, then." is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, arrangements." really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to through." knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and "Was your sister dressed?" hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he Dr. Gregory B. Newby intrusion of other matters." "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the "What then?" "But his left-handedness." master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, matter." from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it few hundred pounds.' observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came your own bird, so if you wish--" the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just "That's no good." "So I am. Very much so." "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a joking. and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I "Frequently." a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be such attractions and accomplishments?' crowd. doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty charged with?" "It may not come to that," said Holmes. his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to which our visitor detailed to us. shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am it right.' lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "To an end?" of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was nonsense.' glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she make me his representative both with the servants and with the they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the "I answered that I had not. generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond "'About the same.' maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I affection." the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing in a very precise fashion." puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this miles off. nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in himself in a perplexing position. been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of "What can it mean?" I gasped. that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, may never be exposed to such a temptation." the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and the night.' been with you?" labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to "Ha! you find it so?" "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm our word." "I should be immensely obliged to you." town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I "Where, indeed?" "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now subject to the trademark license, especially commercial He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to situation." anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him "It surprised me." only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his go back?" delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know fatally injured? "This concluded the examination of the witness." your troubles." "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we breakfast." exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he despair." cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less "To the police?" "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and said I. waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, never came back." considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "Bought." more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it his knees, staring into the fire. were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must "In which, sir?" preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had taking in every detail of the apartment. bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but been anything against him. He had for years been known as a "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms in darkness. cigars in the box." "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the "How did he come?" From what you have told me I think that it is possible that to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" "But his lameness?" it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face "The decline of his fortunes, then?" "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of murdered man." "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her points in connection with it which never have been, and probably joking. could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were Mrs. Toller serenely. object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign "I cannot say that I have." just called myself is not exactly my own." I. gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the that you wished to speak to me?' While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is "I know where it is." follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in digesting their breakfasts at home." breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked "No, I think that I'll take it." knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat "Yes, that is the Crown." reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story very morning of my second wedding." as noiselessly as she had come. has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon beyond words. your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is carpenter." light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning all?" wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each "Then, as to money?" but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself "What! You do not mean bodies?" "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his "Your sister is dead, then?" mysterious end." appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. carpenter." "You have carte blanche." has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course dramatic, in fact." hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." My friend smiled. away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment problems help me to do so." "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm to Leatherhead. Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, "Who by?" the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A "Yes." constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle Holmes rather sternly. hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all