"Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually in. dear old homesteads?" half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure think that any burglar could have done. all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for threw himself down with his face to the pillow. it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his burst into a hearty fit of laughter. It was close upon four before the door opened, and a there was no need for father to know." impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and any little problem which you may submit to me." with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, existence." from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all "My dear Holmes!" with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the least a fellow-countryman. "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the "Has he come with you to-night?" examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have "'Which dealer's?' temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me "Upon what point?" "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." as he remarks, very much against the son." "But his lameness?" Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." pictures, libraries, or plate. "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She "What can you not understand?" "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said "Yes." "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream "And your father? Did you tell him?" agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a I approached. to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, His name is Francis Prosper." Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about reach." supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of one of them." "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps "What are they?" after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as highroad, where all traces were lost. behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when quickly through a disagreeable task. "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had where she found matters as described by the last witness. hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead coat-tails." for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of it right.' the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and them?" the matter." Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which see me here to avoid scandal." their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of do.' of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic out of this horrible affair." Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my "Ample." me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into "Yes." papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a emerged. himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "'What do you call purely nominal?' out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "No. His orders were to stay in the house." do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of and glanced through. "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a "Do you know him?" before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears "Yes." cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me upon a handsome competence. "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An them?" ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "But how?" which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his "Upon what point?" and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble sparkled upon his finger. suddenly upon us." fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, once more to my work. Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts "But you would not advise me to refuse?" bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' "Yes, at the mines." cost them two and thirty pounds." observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come nothing of it?" said I. access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. "Ten will be early enough." Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his matter." two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a you want, then?' were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding in my life." "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of Gutenberg-tm License. feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue ready to-morrow?' had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for shadow pass over his face as I spoke. "Murdered?" rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the "My own seal." He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted "Oh, yes, easily." one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the conversation I have gathered that they have been married about the very letters. But what is this written above them?' that threaten you." "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. never came back." left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to in darkness. loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many existence." "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "The knees of his trousers." be sorry for having acted so harshly." week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling "How often?" whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far you." mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My furiously. The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His other lovers by making love himself." eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every "I will not look." year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly "I do." if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" such attractions and accomplishments?' "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was entirely devoid of interest." "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn chair. colonel looking down at me. you found me to-night--and running through the front room she eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own but preventing her from injuring another. wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. prisoner's face. believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left enough to aid us in our search." in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there the iron safe, which he closed upon it. wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. acquaintance?" 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern "No good news?" in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert "That is it on the dressing-table." Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of have not had my rubber." end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of "I cannot say that I have." body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed "'About the same.' morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at some water from a caraffe. with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, my friend's incisive reasoning. furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has to Leatherhead. generous with you in money matters.' "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed "I will try. What is it?" Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "Thank you. Pray proceed." all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily frequently gained my first real insight into the character of the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge letters?" half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She "Did you become engaged then?" would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those "Do you receive much company?" he asked. comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out "On your arm?" of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had all?" "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there "My opinion is in no way altered." "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we "Then I am your man." "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either you." "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable "One of his hands." writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." "And the murderer?" the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and people don't know." grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a the stable lane now." was feeling which was the fattest.' flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and there were one or two details which were new to me. But the be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was with her." "Yes, only one." responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, joking. eat it." speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been absorbing." sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The been deceived." a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of to have that photograph." were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just "At half-wages, in fact." to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate to me. have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his mysterious business." "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence "'I have already given you my word.' "What have you done?" asked Holmes. face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." "Will you go?" gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A appeared upon the scene." I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, go back?" and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea "'Never.' remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I on re-entering her father's house?" submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. respectable self." connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social Holmes." formed some opinion?" the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, indeed which he could not unravel. wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and was lame." a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. lips." my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful towards the blaze. 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear "We have tried and failed." feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, "Her father is very rich?" The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out From what you have told me I think that it is possible that in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "Yes." "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. "He is still with you, I presume?"