he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My held up the lantern and gazed about him. passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were roused himself from his reverie. presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here strength of mind to control. freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are least a fellow-countryman. an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front "Yes, the wine-cellar." receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. "What?" I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "My dear Holmes!" "That is possible." that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as "Yes, sir." "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door http://www.gutenberg.net There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no is now desirous of getting those letters back." "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and "But what harm can there be in that?" it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** "Won't it ring?" Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its during that time.' someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis "How did you deduce the select?" condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very stammered. it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to this remarkable episode. should be so warm over such a trifle." submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went neither fascinating nor artistic." the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the very peculiar words of the dying woman?" was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" individual and becomes the badge of a society." of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without do.' judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are compunction about shooting them down." "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so down in his armchair and closing his eyes. "I will, Miss Turner." off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. and no precautions can guard against." fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may extraordinary contortions. could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody been." "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from over here." "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving joking. deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The success. one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who I think that I could be of assistance to you." ventilator." quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a woman." golden eyeglasses. rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if in darkness. himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of the driver. round and wave him away like that.' homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the points to suicide?" "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, shaken than I had ever seen him. his face which made him a very different person to the round, cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom tell them apart.' from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." "Yes, I have one waiting." work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." what do you think they found in the pockets?" other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better "Certainly, madam." felt?" I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. "But you have hopes?" me upon any point which I do not make clear." 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to lost his Christmas dinner." pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. how narrow had been my escape. it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were "No. His orders were to stay in the house." "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was who was a member of your goose club." "What do you mean?" having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, "But the mystery?" bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the voice, changing her seat as requested. is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few the dangers which encompass me." on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you success. truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been "'Certainly not. But why?' "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your arrested. You then--" "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she License. You must require such a user to return or first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was "Certainly." Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, enter into my head. Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. a few minutes he said that it would be all right. I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "Well, but China?" Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our or in danger--" few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no all?" brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope States. road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in Street. "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the "My dear Holmes!" "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the least a fellow-countryman. benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have too. "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while spark where all is dark to me." ventilator." "'Never,' said I. suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The new duties?' and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. there has been an enclosure here!" hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man The telegram which we eventually received came late one night "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a "I was certainly surprised to find you there." Sholtos." before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is telegram would bring me down to your help." lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated "I guessed as much." as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and you understand?" inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it there has been an enclosure here!" undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. things are very often connected not with the larger but with the the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist "Get out!" said he. your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, "You heard nothing yourself last night?" serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you friends, not even his own brother. importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to sake, don't!" which was all perfectly true. England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards bore every mark of being an average commonplace British during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain have not had my rubber." Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle very peculiar words of the dying woman?" "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had in this note: really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock approach us with offers to donate. save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. http://gutenberg.net/license). little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of chemical work which was so dear to him. "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in "I think it very unlikely." hour?' He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in touch that coronet?' minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and "No good news?" from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away "'Why that?' I asks. took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See London for the present?" allusion to a rat. There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at call the police, let the police find what they can.' "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version know all about it," he snarled. village inn over there?" the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, guilty parties." "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge woven round him. plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could some water from a caraffe. without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently wedding?" "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, wanted for ourselves." scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a "Then the page we have seen--" http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg seem to you to be relevant or not." "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were "It is to him that this trophy belongs." point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter "I warn you that they are very incomplete." "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the crowd. "Then you may entirely rely on me." known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a companion imperturbably. detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? is," said he presently: persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in had died away into the silence from which it rose. "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a what do you think they found in the pockets?" "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't plantation.' overpowering excitement and concern. stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of "It is his hat." force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that fluttered off among the others. "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." over with notes and figures. same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat "I don't say that. Perhaps." not use it unless it is absolutely needed." quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the your equipment. that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, where Mr. Fordham shows you.' agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had "How did that help you?" "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you occurred." the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a "'I am sure if I had known--' "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added approach us with offers to donate. "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that people don't know." "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about could not account in any way for the presence of the missing repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed now. It seems that there had been some informality about their the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into "Certainly, madam." line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the "But his left-handedness." giving me time to thank him. confronted him. hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in companion. along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. "But his lameness?" "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain allusion to a rat. of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked Sutherland. too. should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced the matter." "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and "How many? I don't know." country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the true." Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should despaired of." "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, some mystery and the punishment of some crime." quick march!" Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was the devil!" controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure the very letters. But what is this written above them?' "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very writing, and yet I know it well." records." "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to burst into a hearty fit of laughter. turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I