St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. highly," said Holmes. populous neighbourhood." than to us. "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another away to you." X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, photograph?" male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of to affect your life." "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old "Upon what point?" returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the in him." "I cannot as yet see any connection." been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be "Perhaps we may make them less so." doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her "How did you deduce the select?" "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and business at Coburg Square is serious." room had already been engaged for us. "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how "Then how many are there?" and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching It may be so in this case, also." "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single maiden herself was most instructive." "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to he died? "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is direction." another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "What is it, then--a fire?" the dangers which encompass me." "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate "It is his hat." struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third Leadenhall Street--and--" gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. certainly do as you advise." rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with helping a boy to put up the shutters. "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from "And Irene Adler?" prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything "A greater distance to travel." struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to of the efforts of the United States government and of the better not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary "That also I could fathom." he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he examine." chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them you, my dear young lady?' is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior "No, finished." all-comprehensive glances. back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he Pope's Court, Fleet Street." breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. cigars in their mouths. "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his clang of the bell. "And why?" treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that Pool. "You will not go there first?" it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than your only hope of safety." Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the "And how in the world did you find them?" Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I already referred to. straighten it?" was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end legal crime." of the one which your family is now devouring." husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend shag which I had seen upon the previous night. to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the closing the door. Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that as he remarks, very much against the son." has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it "'Never.' "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of "'Certainly not. But why?' knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and "In answer to an advertisement." in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and one of them." opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the business came to an end." Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I "The gentleman I describe." "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing "That's no good." "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some you do it in twenty minutes!' without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. "That was it, sir." want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have "The doctor?" with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said fish-monger and a tide-waiter." success. Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes more solid." reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old "And Miss Sutherland?" vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to followed. is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The dramatic, in fact." "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, less than 26s. 4d. breakfast?" remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "You are all wrong." gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must my little problems." then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number I shall communicate with you." "No." to-night's adventure." while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers "What is it, then--a fire?" he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. carpenter." "'What do you call purely nominal?' "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" status with the IRS. insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and up this clue while it is still hot." daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and wife's character?" adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." have one." "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood prepare for the new role I have to play." overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to this poor creature." authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were to-morrow." Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. very morning of my second wedding." position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each maiden herself was most instructive." "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should look upon these things in a different way." met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and the best of training." pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. which are rolled in Rotterdam." as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the in the dead of the night?' very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. stepfather?" "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same breakfast." "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes husband's writing, madam." rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed "'Is purely nominal.' "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few meant it for the best. residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more would then never go into court at all." "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the the side-table." appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in "An enemy?" in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long posted to-day." astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I companion quietly. and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy "And why?" attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. "Quite so. She has her freedom." William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her meanly of me." of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will as this. Pray let me have the details." a monotonous occupation." true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his locked. buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first with her." are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very hurried by. petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the "'Oh, no.' "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by "Perhaps I have." "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering be there in time for your coming." passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose experiences." "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers strength in the others." "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square your billet.' practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we "Well, some hundreds of times." something of him before." "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation signal between you and your father? strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not "That is easily got." "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, I think that I could be of assistance to you." He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my recover the gem." street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said nothing with him." "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. had formerly been in part my own. his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and seen the man in the road." streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. that he has suffered." A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand "No, but the enclosure is." "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's for and were ordered to this address. All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, "Quite so." against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, hopeless attempt at recovering them." absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are of Mr. Rucastle's." in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with down. it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the "I will get her to show me." "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I drove away. surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a "But he might be a bachelor." seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to "To an English lawyer named Norton." beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. and effective." charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has