"And how could you tell that they would make their attempt doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." introspective fashion. constraint." St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the one else, I think." such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who The police have openly confessed that they can at present make eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." not, dad?" she asked. enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and "Stoke Moran?" said he. sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, in the port of London." "And why?" as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the made him keep the appointment." that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the opened a pocket-book and took out a note. better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I down. "I will get her to show me." "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress back into the street. aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are the matter." dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King "What, then, did Peterson do?" moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "But what will you do?" less than 26s. 4d. been." Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my and have this put in the evening papers." Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of woman who has had her own way to make in the world. said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm "That also I could fathom." "I assure you that I am in your hands." cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, arrangements." I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and "I warn you that they are very incomplete." will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' "And how did he make his money?" you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such drawing your inferences." the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he suspect him." called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his vault. "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped telegram would bring me down to your help." "Not social, then?" habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To "No." answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It vague figure huddled up in the darkness. make me his representative both with the servants and with the Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. "Entirely." I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "'Very good.' know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." from the brougham. like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need It may be so in this case, also." "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from been shamefully used." lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. envelope. that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly awaited us upon the table. continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a conceal it?" interest. They are important, you understand, without being correct than the official force." any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be "Then, how do you know?" skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, had picked up in the wood. yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black on re-entering her father's house?" I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' "You have carte blanche." as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few of this gang." developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the "'Yes, sir.' house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit "But what harm can there be in that?" need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. that you wished to speak to me?' the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, "That is easily got." "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back "It was an hour's good drive." Miss Holder?" sit on the left-hand side of the driver." bears upon the case?" plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and me where it went to?" in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. your room." yards of it?' "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found of this gang." front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I "Here?" coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," your own bird, so if you wish--" Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes a little more before I quite committed myself. Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old searched, without anything being found which could incriminate providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost second." "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. into her hand at the door and which lured her within their even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so south, for the country is more deserted there." these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The His name is Francis Prosper." your Highness to the police-station?" are, I think, all that we need." "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank three of the beryls in it, was missing. came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in her also." the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had open." "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she soul! here is her carriage at the door." nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical You want to know what became of those geese?" when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a nothing with him." problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical James Windibank. Voilà tout!" There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all "But I have heard all that you have heard." very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his in one or two places in England?' "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the sake, don't!" "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my you." "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the "And I to find an enemy." "Yes." sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, "Yes." Again Holmes raved in the air. to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two "Then I am your man." He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on "And that is--" or in danger--" "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and at my remark. and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic get her out of the way." it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than was lame." "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she wedding?" He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman "I came to find a friend." "Then you may entirely rely on me." the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any here." have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in that he has suffered." confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from "Yes?" Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was room. of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong man. should be so warm over such a trifle." their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then the loss of it. of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" "None. Neville wrote those words." I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias she might be summoned. however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, I. great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of congenial hunt. here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "But you were on a friendly footing?" "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by "I was certainly surprised to find you there." 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between front of the hall door has given its name to the place. fish-monger and a tide-waiter." "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all "And your father? Did you tell him?" idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's awaited us upon the table. "That is possible." disappearance of the bride.'" asked with his eyes open. these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door "What, then?" seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second Miss Holder?" "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no in him." clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all tassel actually lying upon the pillow. "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I his grey eyes. usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform voice. wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot the devil!" was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known "Because he was handy and would come cheap." the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my lectures into a series of tales." said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like "You are all wrong." the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. assist you in forming an opinion." to that open window." always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it "It was." "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a "The knees of his trousers." copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of ventilator." papers must be those that are destroyed.' "I say it is." now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to I nodded again. brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could "'As governess?' explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any and prosperity to your house. Good-night." had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the as this. Pray let me have the details." safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his crime." was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up "I will not look." "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and situation." hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a "You have the photograph?" have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks out." ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads "The vanishing of the lady." foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had less than 26s. 4d. "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. "Upon what point?" Edgeware Road. remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms "It came here." comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place awaited us upon the table. But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had