a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down "I know where it is." events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his the south-west, I see." There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me Lee, in the county of Kent." confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I there." "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with and shall probably return to London by the evening train." platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the the ceiling. Count Von Kramm." which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a in the port of London." "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." business came to an end." had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some that he has suffered." "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in charge against him will break down." better in every way that they should make their position a little from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." that I am arrested." you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." "'Never,' said I. said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." once more on the important position which you have been fortunate gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the late!' error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the the side-table." residence of the great financier. tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "So I am. Very much so." have been better. It is all right." which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. "I don't believe it." Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered "Then he might have called to you?" call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six some place of shelter and let the county police know what has no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send from you?" possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" The telegram which we eventually received came late one night then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a not, dad?" she asked. no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it me where it went to?" time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between companion imperturbably. particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the grasp, he hurried from the room. came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but have got?" "Dirty?" "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the "I was certainly surprised to find you there." blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." my little problems." I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, to Leatherhead. chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good someone who had been in Australia." How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the "I am to be neutral?" "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. upon a handsome competence. you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into "And the cigar-holder?" forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' as this. Pray let me have the details." "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as outside. fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, "Where, then, is my wife?" gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin "But we can't all be." humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to American. Then who could this American be, and why should he firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here true." "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very of Fenchurch Street." really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "I think that it is very probable." first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, intrusion of other matters." you." Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself them, and came down just as you departed. ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "But it has twice been burgled." was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others "You have compromised yourself seriously." at my own good fortune. "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into "I guessed as much." "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately drove away. "Nothing." how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips conclusions. realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. gives a meaning to it." Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as "Not him." thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two have not had my rubber." had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became "No. His orders were to stay in the house." "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." cheerful." When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his "You have carte blanche." cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' call it cruel." cigars in their mouths. possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. "I don't believe it." Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She that there was nothing in it, after all." running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. legal crime." hour." your bag." were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a furiously. cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the quite distinctive." back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her "The doctor?" pressing in one house as in another. feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I electronic works "I cannot tell." We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, had this final quarrel? distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time "Never." drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." been lifted and conveyed somewhere." thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his over with notes and figures. been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. "Ah, but I was recommended to you." "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the mysterious end." but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office not interfere, come what may. You understand?" "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did one of them." impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is attention." Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one everything which you would wish to know." may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if Edgeware Road. skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room "What office?" get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened "Of what day?" "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his with the outside air!" transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a to some other building. spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white matter." that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my down in his armchair and closing his eyes. and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the fish-monger and a tide-waiter." not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the again, where I was soon asleep. immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's in the hope of finding them." Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, forbidden door. things are very often connected not with the larger but with the round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I this poor creature." "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work "It may not come to that," said Holmes. "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office read over the extraordinary announcement. "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted 11:15.' all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with "'Then let me do so?' are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself "How on earth--" with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window is so. I know all about McCarthy." "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot article?" after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. quickly through a disagreeable task. been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my "And how?" "Yes, sir." wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all "Not in the least." "I am following you closely," I answered. "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. gentleman's clothes. several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so your room." colour had been driven from his face. this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet breakfast?" "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. status with the IRS. "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but simple cases which are so extremely difficult." down from London to inquire more deeply into it." "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for late!' prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to over part of the map. "What do you read?" daring than any effort of the imagination." "Look there!" said he. "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, matters immensely." front of me. Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if father's young wife. centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the quickly through a disagreeable task. three fields round his house, and there he would take his room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the