France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in acted in my house last night?" keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the which our visitor detailed to us. will not take me long to tell. "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I "'What, the red-headed man?' "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two ourselves in the office." Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows "You are certainly joking, Holmes." most important business. It is probable that he will be away all fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the Heh?' went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should night.' said he. unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took I approached. in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where "Yes." have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those British peeress.'" little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the best detective that ever lived. made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, "Ten will be early enough." the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. intimate personal affairs in this public manner." brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded "What do you mean?" "Then how many are there?" be there in time for your coming." side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo Literary Archive Foundation "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found and no precautions can guard against." fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my tell them apart.' Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray the inner apartment." "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving will not take me long to tell. the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but my room." slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." certainly not very gracious." "I was certainly surprised to find you there." gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step that I am arrested." The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said standing smiling on the door-step. avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on there were one or two details which were new to me. But the drove away. "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." IS really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he it means?" better in every way that they should make their position a little which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get down in his armchair and closing his eyes. simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third of receipt of the work. "It missed him, then?" There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds your most interesting statement." singular points about the case. What did the police think of the "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, the Red-headed League." the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this bonnet, and went out." possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. said he. about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, "'Yes.' 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the fire. You quite follow me?" presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. "But of what society?" have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled to-night's adventure." seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as power." room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he tear off another piece?' absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter dear old homesteads?" "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." a room. "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not business matters.' and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there "I don't believe it." much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to "My photograph." human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual very peculiar words of the dying woman?" fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the "You are hungry," I remarked. "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." congratulate you again." was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which "What will you say?" enter Dr. Roylott's room." locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal "I think it very unlikely." "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique "I was certainly surprised to find you there." his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in to Leatherhead. wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." "Eh? What was that?" There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and triumphant cloud from his cigarette. his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? "No, thank goodness, she did not." that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. tell me that you intended to go into harness." "You'll never persuade me to believe that." together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her asked with his eyes open. horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and "We have tried and failed." into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain "And the cigar-holder?" eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, present." he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some "'And the work?' she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." "Pray let us have it, for all that." Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. good-night and bustled off upon her way. claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" pierced for earrings?" "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should 1.F. "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away to that open window." all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this someone who had been in Australia." agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that His smile broadened. to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "What have you to say now?" out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life "Well, it is a possible supposition." and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been the driver. relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper him and tried to hold him back. could gather together that I was able to avert another public bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug was feeling which was the fattest.' this as likely?" right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a amused." small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and wife's character?" developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I him, that man would not have given me such complete information "I say it is." Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding room had already been engaged for us. while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted "Eh? What was that?" forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." chemical work which was so dear to him. "It is solved." overpowering excitement and concern. play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will character. you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of seem to you to be relevant or not." Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His during the last few years, and there are many noble families to laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." it? Did I buy the geese off you?" think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far "Indeed! Whose, then?" you want, then?' violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes strong reason behind." "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to of this gang." strong reason behind." cost them two and thirty pounds." stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just "'What are you doing there?' he asked. could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would "No." I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was had no one to advise her at such a crisis." heavy and sharp instrument." Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not "Yes, I have one waiting." as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "My dear Holmes!" London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other means taking possession of that which another person has a prior receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely "I am sure." strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a room had already been engaged for us. See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think "How often?" "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid "But your client--" and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "One of his hands." "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out "My dear Holmes!" I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience developed." "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. from the brougham. "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." one's self under obligations.' she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on gives a meaning to it." but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical "I think that it is very probable." like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. was feeling which was the fattest.' told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely to have been novel and of interest." status with the IRS. "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes "Will you bet, then?" look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. know what is wrong with it.' "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the key of the affair now." breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at him to go away.' in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." there has been an enclosure here!" them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger with some details as to your case." have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson "Oh, fresh and glossy." girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, tear off another piece?' children over to America with him, so that I found myself without "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to Miss Holder?" "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it "We must have a cab." sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed Henry Baker is a member." sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who in darkness. mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at "That is easily got." late." was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you "They are typewritten," I remarked. Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very and the whole place is in a blaze." dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle a good hundred miles off by now." regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from "I am to be neutral?" behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed From what you have told me I think that it is possible that your co-operation." St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, business." "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark all?" TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she