"Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his sufficient punishment." long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left of Mr. Rucastle's." caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical unprofitable." Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of "And Miss Sutherland?" foresight and the moral retrogression?" table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" "I see many objections to any such theory." and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with wedding?" then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, province." points to suicide?" "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project "Frequently." the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the should be taken.' would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, enough to aid us in our search." matter." all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held in him." used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, tension within him. only touch the interest." "And leave your case unfinished?" "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. "But his left-handedness." could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my the coronet at all injured?" *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** "Your sister is dead, then?" "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I bare slabs of marble. on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" tell me that you intended to go into harness." success. I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter death." "Can I be of assistance?" But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I call the police, let the police find what they can.' matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently "I am armed." with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she hard-headed British jury." the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, "Stolen." before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed derbies." face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to respectable self." Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having the stable lane now." Arthur Conan Doyle right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it the bed, and you in that chair." instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch that he will be back before evening." feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." "But I have heard all that you have heard." perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the status with the IRS. make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger tied." "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters "But what is it you wish?" "No, I think that I'll take it." "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left hurried away. excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the "It was an hour's good drive." "Nothing." "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "Where to?" purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that than was visible to me." The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. "Oh, the cause is excellent!" drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your "No?" paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I article?" it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not strong and stiff." XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of been deceived." deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of pierced for earrings?" been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, "He is still with you, I presume?" judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall Miss Holder?" sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your pictures, libraries, or plate. "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. coroner's jury." recover the gem." the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper will not take me long to tell. particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the some mystery and the punishment of some crime." more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." a suggestive one." sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who had picked up in the wood. "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what and the church but not where the lady lived." surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped in this note: again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. "It was a confession," I ejaculated. "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for you, my dear young lady?' "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A Holmes." shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, business." ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. means taking possession of that which another person has a prior "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of in the hope of finding them." for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen over with notes and figures. "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a "'Then let me do so?' them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you "To ruin me." "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy who was a member of your goose club." "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but you." "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning she might be summoned. no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair and the colonel ushered me in. "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the "I beg pardon." "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me official police." she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in one or two very singular points about this room. For example, When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end cause to be." "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." "It was an hour's good drive." upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in in the dead of the night?' also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the fasten all the windows?" in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving there has been an enclosure here!" metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. away to you." "Deserted you?" "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take "No bad?" "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am my special province." itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the made his money." petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the "Nothing?" "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. despair." those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they "Very well, sir. And this stone?" cheerful." Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy exactly what you advise." "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a whereabouts. "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two "Texas, I think." woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and Serpentine Avenue. them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" brought there to personate someone, and the real person is the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that "Then I can wait in the next room." "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing foresight and the moral retrogression?" evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the fait accompli?" myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" mystery!" fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in the station." him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? unkempt, staring out at me. "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I 'please.'" what these perils are?" "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead second." said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the keep the flames under. wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that "'I have already given you my word.' hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the "'Yes, sir.' "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful "Pray continue your narrative." in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" burst into a hearty fit of laughter. propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' bed dies. Does not that strike you?" the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned "What shall I do?" When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the "'And the work?' something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. "Seven!" I answered. "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. house for five minutes.' place no limit on the sum I may draw." unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off south, for the country is more deserted there." he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. "When did she vanish, then?" bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than carried out of court." vanished into the darkness. "Yes, from Horsham." collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such read it out to me." tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes asked. Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you "How long did she speak to this Alice?" important." snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid "'Why that?' I asks. "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. there is a decided draught." "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR do." thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the speckled band?" the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been "You have but to name it." "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six "I have a cab outside." the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment closing the door. what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately over part of the map. "What do you read?" insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" "What are they?" to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have spark where all is dark to me." "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had that I can to serve you." the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in she slowly sank and died without having recovered her them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am strength in the others." "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and shall use the carriage to-night." 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. come either from the window or the door. My attention was has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a