With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of "And now?" I asked. stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in tell me that you intended to go into harness." sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen Munro.' journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. any little problem which you may submit to me." exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime depend upon my doing so.' lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any ill-usage at the hands of fortune. hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his absolutely follow my advice in every respect." Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst stepfather?" the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my as this. Pray let me have the details." that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here asked. whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; "'Certainly not. But why?' "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a "'About the same.' present." play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and "She showed me, as I told you she would." "'Yes.' leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the gone. sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of fire. You quite follow me?" will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads "Ha! you find it so?" Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and "And how did you verify them?" coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself main points of my analysis." accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and that he will be back before evening." "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. companion. How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers records." have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, such person." up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my interests were the same as his." "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he introspective fashion. seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in "You are certainly joking, Holmes." "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes "No, thank goodness, she did not." the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and "At half-wages, in fact." You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some signal between you and your father? "He disappeared so suddenly." row." step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the fasten all the windows?" "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in washing it down with a long draught of water. "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his straightened it out again. trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was outsides of the windows. inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few and the whole place is in a blaze." cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, thin, with a long, sharp nose?" Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens morning." And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this wedding?" crowd. test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his Project Gutenberg-tm works. you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private "None." do.' implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." nonsense.' fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his papers." at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in and I shall be with you presently." in his hands." people in all walks of life. to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something perplexity from it to my illustrious client. "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home notes," he said. could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out my special province." "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but said he at last. "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip astonishment. so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do "I shall most certainly do so." the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my chance at all." St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is "I will, Miss Turner." went to the Alpha were town bred." it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in "Oh, the cause is excellent!" "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a morning." "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out relation between them, and what the object of his repeated or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm "'Which dealer's?' to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a points to suicide?" She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, becomes even more simple." and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of as yours." from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." "Well?" before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. "Your sister is dead, then?" sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend McCarthy." Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it passage and a tap at the door. is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have appointment with me for six o'clock?" save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very fuss that is made over them." my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes weary and pale-looking. shag which I had seen upon the previous night. lamp in his hand. better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into eavesdroppers?' as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. persecution?" surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the present." triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time "Yes, but only for you and me." eavesdroppers?' of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by how narrow had been my escape. said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. hereditary King of Bohemia." Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the very morning of my second wedding." down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their down. "Was she in good spirits?" finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I mysterious end." skylight. twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less dear old homesteads?" d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his "I was mad--insane." "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough indeed which he could not unravel. "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the was keenly on my guard against him. bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I province." thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but Chief Executive and Director deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your case-book, which he consulted. of it with the greatest attention. massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some "You are certainly joking, Holmes." "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an thirty. it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." client, rising. believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." than was visible to me." "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of jewels which you have stolen?' glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' "Who by?" left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come it right.' Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a beg that you will break it off." "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her there!' Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always opportunities to fix the problem. my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as frequently gained my first real insight into the character of "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of to a more successful conclusion." bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come What do you deduce from it?" downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have Again Holmes raved in the air. "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project his grey eyes. front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was envelope. eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the geese which you supplied to the Alpha." general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back he. "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and in him." crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have "'Then let me do so?' "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled "No?" We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the "I have come for advice." reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded Pope's Court. withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads shaken than I had ever seen him. "No. What a strange idea!" never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad "Your presence might be invaluable." tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between ways including including checks, online payments and credit card the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in that he has suffered." "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him I have it here in my museum." the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he young Openshaw's." "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." "On Monday." His name is Francis Prosper." The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of felt?" "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is "I am all attention, madam." wall." registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." "Yes." several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this it right.' furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are here and I will read it to you: the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." side. friend's singular character. Pope's Court, Fleet Street." Young McCarthy must be got off, however." "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of back to my heart. and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he said he. firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my "Why serious?" "I really have made no inquiries on the subject."