"Why serious?" sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel a little more before I quite committed myself. being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my some water from a caraffe. "Stolen, then." sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I "Of Friday, June 19th." "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." photograph a cabinet?" in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch character. think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and "What is it, then--a fire?" "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "Stolen, then." very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, and prosperity to your house. Good-night." the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any said I. reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered "Eh? What was that?" use an arc-and-compass breastpin." furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the me have 200 pounds?' it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon comes from the middle window." touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! and looked back. the best of training." was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose me have 200 pounds?' door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." go back?" there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, During two years I have had three consultations and one small that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the politicians who had been sent down from the North. the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event any more." wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when "Come in!" said Holmes. in a friendly supper." away in different directions, and I went off to make my own what do you think they found in the pockets?" "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, entirely devoid of interest." "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A considering the formidable letters which were received by himself "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be father's young wife. "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "It certainly sounds feasible." somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the closing the door. A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been Street. I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and "Nothing?" me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from "Just look it up, then." a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be presented which may be striking and bizarre without being observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and coroner's jury." posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go "One of the highest in England." "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great the room while you explain this matter?" "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has "'What do you call purely nominal?' upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to "'And what are they worth?' I asked. more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing acted in my house last night?" spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a "You have a clue?" little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few laugh and put his lips to my ear. marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of security.' towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" suspect him." found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will October 9, 1890. at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as "Ah!" information in his hands the value of which he did not himself play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert his fortune, and I went back to pa. "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it house for five minutes.' on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** were new raised from a basin. "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the little adventures." The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do ways including including checks, online payments and credit card I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which in a friendly supper." same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it assist you in forming an opinion." murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the will be renamed. all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other politicians who had been sent down from the North. Holmes' face clouded over. "Yes, that is the Crown." with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." fluttered off among the others. Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered "But how will you look?" Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the me. the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I brandy and water within his reach. London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, in his power. "You saw the ventilator, too?" upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. "Ten will be early enough." shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, "How did that help you?" the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a cup of tea. "Nothing." very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an minor matters until to-morrow." upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." "He is still with you, I presume?" thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should him to go away.' of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark and shall probably return to London by the evening train." dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' "'Never.' your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" "The decline of his fortunes, then?" character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel "Breckinridge is his name." hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, "He slept on the premises." waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as were unconscious?" away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be what is your own theory as to what took place?" for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. "Yes." mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was "Where, then, is my wife?" Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk grasp, he hurried from the room. "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. "But the mystery?" "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me been shamefully used." me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his "Pray let us have it, for all that." his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not visitors." who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his take the flies, but not before." Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself so.' suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a and the church but not where the lady lived." "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" crackling voice. ago." hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very and I shall be with you presently." decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been have had none more fantastic than this." "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building "No bad?" there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have depend upon your compliance." vault. "Entirely." you." deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." "'Why that?' I asks. blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay maid will bring up your coffee." "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem orange pips. "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. was feeling which was the fattest.' "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office that?' three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional Have you good authority for what you say?" depend upon my doing so.' us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. was already answered. "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I strode off upon his way. "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left points in connection with it which never have been, and probably absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they "I should like to see him very much." the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry "Oh, fresh and glossy." therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, "How about poison?" reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the "The murder was done with it." "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar nice household for a young lady." pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; "And how did you verify them?" "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with spark where all is dark to me." "Certainly." Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in cost them two and thirty pounds." "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' goes." drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, "I will not look." think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now throat." solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do "'Where could I find him?' inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." house for five minutes.' "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but "Very well, sir. And this stone?" Sholtos." and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to