now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. "Did you observe the colour?" "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." "Your presence might be invaluable." perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." call it cruel." high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in "Of what?" India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "'Certainly,' I answered. It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week "Nothing." closing the door. "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low fatally injured? "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." your billet.' Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "Pray do so." younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia Cross for the Continent." been anything against him. He had for years been known as a other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. several quiet little villages up there." questionable one." "Yes, he did." more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my who was a member of your goose club." meanly of me." be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether the nursery. that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to examine." and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than "You have it, sir, just as it happened." "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. "Precisely." free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will Does that suggest anything?" been with you?" "I am sure." provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. Miss Holder?" Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in the Friday. Was it to be in church?" friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I shoulder; "he's all right." My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken just ask you whether you had heard it.' The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." "The doctor?" "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no upon an income of about 60 pounds." "Yes, but only for you and me." will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be "What will you say?" time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without "I have come for advice." a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. may have an influence upon European history." downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I note?" "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To "Ha! you find it so?" arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your "I do." "By train from Waterloo." rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well possible that we could bring him back to her? "'Most admirably.' and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was vault. imbecility!" he cried. to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly "You saw the ventilator, too?" resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. Project Gutenberg-tm works. throat." "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to "Do you receive much company?" he asked. the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and plantation.' dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of silent! Oh, he will be silent!' "Yes, all." above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once ago." but preventing her from injuring another. moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to against a man in the prime of life?" south, for the country is more deserted there." was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; "No, distinctly professional." strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out "How did you trace it, then?" remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and "Texas, I think." "But his left-handedness." "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk delighted to hear it," he said. suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has License. You must require such a user to return or happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite papers must be those that are destroyed.' daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you arrangements." a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and already been minutely examined." you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of "That is it on the dressing-table." or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm it." "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared "By no means." supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I my friend's incisive reasoning. "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for opportunities to fix the problem. young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my "Deserted you?" something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it bill, which interests me deeply." engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I cigars in the box." made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them thin, with a long, sharp nose?" Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in walking." chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. is so. I know all about McCarthy." your only hope of safety." X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by train.' answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from shall use the carriage to-night." shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are I am not easy in my mind about them." them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. "I cannot think." "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a address. disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no "'I have already given you my word.' finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it tightly behind him. gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." what I may call a really hard day's work." coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence a good hundred miles off by now." battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional bore every mark of being an average commonplace British His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "ARAT," I read. agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a strange features which were associated with the two crimes which "How long did she speak to this Alice?" my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in "A thing like a cleaver," said he. "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty "Why did you pick him?" "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the client, rising. and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same his knees, staring into the fire. people in all walks of life. "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "And how did he make his money?" you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the note?" a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a photograph?" you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest "How long did she speak to this Alice?" on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." "I should like to see him very much." "'What are you doing there?' he asked. "The Coroner: What do you mean? he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to "And sit in the dark?" and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it golden eyeglasses. the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, cheerful." imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his likely to be some crony of the landlady's." I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for said he. of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but ventilator." "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser "In which, sir?" When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I directors, with the result that you have seen." affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains "I was sure that I might rely on you." "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could of fine shops and stately business premises that they really have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the in your London, you will know that the office of the company is as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I "Very. But will he see it?" prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if presented which may be striking and bizarre without being set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the "Yes, there are nearly always some there." a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm congratulate you again." only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just are, and they are waiting for us." money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still towards the blaze. "And what did you see?" after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a "Well, some hundreds of times." have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good notes," he said. "Not yet." do.' "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the that threaten you." "You were travelling in the States?" "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" were new raised from a basin. from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that "If I can be of use." the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric weapon." insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I cheerful." he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I "I answered that I had not. freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting swore that no one else had been in the front room during the it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right in the dead of the night?' sparkled upon his finger. "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching soul! here is her carriage at the door." step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet "One?" questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive His name is Francis Prosper." "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "Then you may be so with me." province." laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such Holmes." "No." "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are papers diligently of late, have you not?" street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? undoubtedly my uncle's." fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered and it need not interfere very much with one's other be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many corner of the building. "Perhaps I have." inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered flock.' "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in following enigmatical notices: you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the about. the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the again." called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until