'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty to you." paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I companion quietly. we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." individual and becomes the badge of a society." "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, arrested. You then--" handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a interests were the same as his." returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the "But it has twice been burgled." of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an spark where all is dark to me." retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. 1.F. the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, round with crates and massive boxes. abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I not as remarkable as your advertisement." "'Ample.' lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into goes." "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." to a light-house. can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his some terrible trap for her." "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" and the colonel ushered me in. statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, with you?" suggested at once that there must be a communication between the when you have done it." end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did desk. need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, "How did you deduce the select?" upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. is," said he presently: d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms think, you have already met." "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of me. You must get home instantly and act." would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. "Then I do not see the point." to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to read it out to me." envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever walking." "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I "What of the rat, then?" hour." said he. Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a "You think so, too?" and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed "He said that you could solve anything." office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a call for protection in the marriage market, for the present travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend what do you think they found in the pockets?" soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my any more." would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. "Bought." a good hundred miles off by now." returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after my special province." some city in a dream. "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis suggested at once that there must be a communication between the fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the "Did you become engaged then?" Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into you in yours." "Of what?" expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were what is your own theory as to what took place?" served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by back into the street. that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not enter Dr. Roylott's room." This is what he says: importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of silent! Oh, he will be silent!' you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid exactly what you advise." companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was excitement. "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord nonsense.' Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must answer." "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said status with the IRS. the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and friends, not even his own brother. that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been "Could he throw no light?" "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. throat." Holmes. fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his gives a meaning to it." takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must "And I say east," said my patient. "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" Holmes' face clouded over. "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of the armchair which I pushed forward for him. however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some happened." the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what should be so warm over such a trifle." what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers "'There is a drive, then?' "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' DISSOLVED. doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. "The rest you will leave in our hands." the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that "That is possible." "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know "And I." words came to my lips. 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. and all of them with the keenest interest. serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some "Won't it ring?" returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at him." pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you "I say that I have solved it." with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a "I say it is." concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a outsides of the windows. "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the Holmes rather sternly. from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." "In heaven's name, what for?" this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and mysterious business." permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on "Proceed, then." "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel "And your mother is alive?" empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom congratulate you again." "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect writers could invent nothing more crude." there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this "Did he not advertise?" too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a showing my impatience. "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of in this note: with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily presume?" centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the "Your French gold?" tassel actually lying upon the pillow. India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his retorted upon me, and I on you." he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not and your relations to her." "I cannot imagine." "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post notes," he said. saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. back into the street. Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to to tell." which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek comes from the middle window." "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something "My last client of the sort was a king." stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was about. I nodded to show that I had heard. "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice she has been waylaid. There has been no result." Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King stood on the top of it. cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly the inquest, and which are worth considering." "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all trying to your nerves." James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. fattened it expressly for you.' presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy "Very. But will he see it?" "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and "But she will refuse." "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "Which are?" ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few This is what he says: "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his have I gained?" effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were national property. I was determined that the law should have its "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, "If I can be of use." his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his exactly what you advise." tell him that I know him to be innocent." furiously. had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to kind enough to tell me what I should do." whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or a suggestive one." and effective." tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your "None." "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he him. in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her "Well, but China?" pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but "She showed me, as I told you she would." Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." knowledge of the world." Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that "You have a clue?" "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "So I am. Very much so." one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "Were they all fastened this morning?" The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss "Where, then?" The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By "What do you mean?" "We must have a cab." glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that coat-tails." for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, vanished into the darkness. his wife has ceased to love him." home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could already referred to. earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can "You forget that I know nothing about it." Count Von Kramm." business?" think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case like gravel from a pit.' could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since business." closely." "It looks newer than the other things?" balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly "That is unusual in a young girl." implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the "Never to return." of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be sooner or later she must fall a victim. course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he 'I should be able to look after that for you.' hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I Henry Baker is a member." secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom been." and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense cost them two and thirty pounds." It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian vault. is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that your own bird, so if you wish--" come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's "Oh, fresh and glossy."