great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally photograph a cabinet?" flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she "How can you tell that?" "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it go--none." trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his she might be summoned. after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year enter into my head. an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. the driver. carpenter." town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon made his money." open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes "'No, I know no one in these parts.' impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would the inner apartment." If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An directors, with the result that you have seen." official police." "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be for its centre. had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to "One?" "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' had this final quarrel? little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the ways of our fellow-men." danger is over." upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to "You are hungry," I remarked. it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, of Mr. Rucastle's." Farm upon the left." stammered. wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I "Your sister is dead, then?" "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into "At what time?" the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our "How can you tell that?" introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She "'Certainly not.' "I guessed as much." the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I "Then I am your man." I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is McCarthy." would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls "It missed him, then?" a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a "Pray do so." shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I in one or two places in England?' deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what stalked out of the room. "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether of Mr. Rucastle's." down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles where she found matters as described by the last witness. you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of maid will bring up your coffee." looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the "This photograph!" does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm your sleep?' remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, Doctor, of the paper and the date." in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly "When did she vanish, then?" simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." "But his lameness?" over part of the map. "What do you read?" arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with You can understand that this register and diary may implicate "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to "About a month then." Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my happened." Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away enter Dr. Roylott's room." developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they one of them." "Absolutely none." there were one or two details which were new to me. But the "What, then?" matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a "'And the work?' empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their client, rising. more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy there is a decided draught." "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling long narrative. "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in "Was your sister dressed?" "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between thin, with a long, sharp nose?" its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, present strange and interesting features that it is no easy Chief Executive and Director shaken than I had ever seen him. crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to any little problem which you may submit to me." "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the very peculiar words of the dying woman?" the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I gone before you can get him to hospital." heavily into it. "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "What then?" persecution?" benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have asked with his eyes open. clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding which our visitor detailed to us. end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his thin, with a long, sharp nose?" this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" "But you have hopes?" quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into address. Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her "But you were on a friendly footing?" His smile broadened. on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she away into the river." office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass and looked back. "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do hour?' Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from carpenter." "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of "But how did you gain them?" difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy ceremony." There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said matter." The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. "Quite so." the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he his face. having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your "But how?" hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She mysterious business." "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the Watson," he said cordially. off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, attention." "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings to affect your life." "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is and no precautions can guard against." colour had been driven from his face. power." silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you go from here to the Strand." happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might I am not easy in my mind about them." the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "Certainly." so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged "And help." gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither over with notes and figures. implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black "Then I am your man." what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came it." wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she "It was a confession," I ejaculated. would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I should be taken.' yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. absorbing." unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was despair." "We must have a cab." reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit not, dad?" she asked. and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "Absolutely none." he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the Farm upon the left." thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "Can I be of assistance?" authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and "'And what are they worth?' I asked. "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle the salesman. mystery may be cleared along those lines." beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must bed dies. Does not that strike you?" When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a "'In my own bureau.' "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the the station." marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I "Where to?" to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, "Did your wife hear all this?" "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I "And the cigar-holder?" he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly himself in a perplexing position. was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is I shall continue with my miserable story. "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." "So it appears." "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to where Mr. Fordham shows you.' what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an "Where, then?" thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he there were one or two details which were new to me. But the his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." you for a few hours?" "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we even so self-evident a thing as that." will he say when he returns?" farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by "Not I." "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." paper in the air. her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her "Yes." There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." in this way: have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to returned to France?" "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." "'What would be the hours?' I asked. the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old death." I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" that the gas is not laid on in his house?" my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have examination of the premises, but without finding anything which remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third of Mr. Rucastle's." every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just Clair, of Lee." such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and man. 1.F. "And now?" He raised his hand. or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the developed." down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, would then never go into court at all." "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes following enigmatical notices: was it brought him the coronet? "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have villagers almost as much as their master. difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my closing the door. retorted upon me, and I on you." absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of instincts rose up against that laugh. my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my