taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet side. "But how will you look?" "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "I cannot imagine." Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It of a light. "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I which was all perfectly true. search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should yet." which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it "I answered that I had not. for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no "A greater distance to travel." upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. companion quietly. cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole companion. At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father photograph?" that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a night.' said he. thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" character. Doctor, of the paper and the date." were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss photograph?" "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some "And what did you see?" following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing felt?" little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those sooner or later she must fall a victim. are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent "None. Neville wrote those words." stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back "By all means." since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country the bed, and you in that chair." terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly "I guessed as much." step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional "Then the page we have seen--" I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking constraint." news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We leave you to your papers for a little." "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set so.' the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than have I gained?" there!' them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up and effective." and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud relation between them, and what the object of his repeated to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is "Thank you. Pray proceed." Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I definite end. would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I are, I think, all that we need." one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal papers." stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon was feeling which was the fattest.' which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the the room while you explain this matter?" breakfast." "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." prison!" answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. point in the dark hollow of his hand. usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had carriage. It was a chestnut." a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper ran thus: the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for noting anything else of interest. listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I "What is it?" "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." "It came here." of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and "An accident, I presume?" "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by strength in the others." pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to "Quite so." "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in "Never." not within a twentieth part of the market price." "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and and your relations to her." Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then province." upon an income of about 60 pounds." lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a words came to my lips. its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of noting anything else of interest. eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. national property. I was determined that the law should have its that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back stood on the top of it. thought that she would have been so carried away." "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of "And leave your case unfinished?" works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. "In answer to an advertisement." events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must enter into my head. to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was "Yes." handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my morning." been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "Yes." The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and than was visible to me." at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing opportunities to fix the problem. turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous front of me. gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know "Then I do not see the point." and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll "Of what day?" secret." "It was a confession," I ejaculated. But Holmes shook his head gravely. which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting crime." "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and enough to aid us in our search." swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" habit of advancing money.' Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce the ceiling. and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black "How long did she speak to this Alice?" other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had "You will not go there first?" half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare later, upon the night of May 2nd." access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most said Mr. Holder. through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard as yours." creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of bill, which interests me deeply." Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' "Two days later this same performance was gone through under going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal Holmes. papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see "Why serious?" "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. than was visible to me." never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are sparkled upon his finger. When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about "Breckinridge is his name." "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case breakfast?" police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first the side-table." contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been business in the City. She little knew what. presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away searched, without anything being found which could incriminate what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out Leave Paddington by the 11:15." "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in new duties?' "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "What is it, then--a fire?" have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "Then, as to money?" little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the "No?" the inner apartment." fact, we may call it conclusive." step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads from you?" then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and whole matter to your consideration." half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little I am not easy in my mind about them." such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever before, for it was considerably after midnight. Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an "Ten will be early enough." out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. is so. I know all about McCarthy." "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." your troubles." finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. "No, thank goodness, she did not." appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "My dear Holmes!" "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. as this. Pray let me have the details." passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan see a sister of mine apply for." two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there "I fear not." to affect your life." "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought "My opinion is in no way altered." he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we writer." and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, way in." this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" of the way of danger. there when the Rucastles went away." returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of "Well?" "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. south, for the country is more deserted there." reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got It was close upon four before the door opened, and a possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, stood on the top of it. Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and to-night's adventure." and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year "Why did you pick him?" an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' Stoke Moran." "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, place of silver." Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and opened the door, and slipped through. "My dear Holmes!" spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was union?" "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the were new raised from a basin. "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated answered with a sidelong glance. untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, "'Yes, sir.' unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses "I should like to see him very much." surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had "You don't mind breaking the law?" admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I "Where did he live, then?" I leave." "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found "No?" amused." copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to Arthur Conan Doyle "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned on re-entering her father's house?" "He slept on the premises." object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of the little opening for the ventilator is." down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will "But he might be a bachelor." a good hundred miles off by now." after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes nights." Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his "And you don't know his address?" towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better