"That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with "Eh? What was that?" professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite "'Where could I find him?' from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their the date of his supposed suicide." from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce "You horrify me!" hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about "What steps will you take?" I asked. say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." "I say it is." guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the discontent upon his features. "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very only touch the interest." from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, "It is true that I have been generally successful." lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her standing smiling on the door-step. photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now his face which made him a very different person to the round, hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of "Perhaps I have." to talk it over. I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past "Holmes, the busybody!" at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything and the whole place is in a blaze." terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. place, I think that there is good ground to think that the Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the "My Mary? Impossible!" "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking opened the door, and slipped through. "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly instincts rose up against that laugh. for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "And sit in the dark?" "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in "You have a clue?" made his money." almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without my secret was safe in his possession. and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He to talk it over. "His face fell immediately. writers could invent nothing more crude." "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the call you and give you the chance." "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you questionable one." his wife has ceased to love him." if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "What I expected to see." arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, because she had spent so short a time in this country that she "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were "Yes." to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed "But to whom?" "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I do you make of it all?" dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. "It is possible." the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was "Yes, all." "A greater distance to travel." her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, shoulder; "he's all right." put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass of fine shops and stately business premises that they really suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction silent! Oh, he will be silent!' by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom one or two very singular points about this room. For example, Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. speckled band?" our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. these bleak autumnal evenings." James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length "And how did you find out?" or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you "It is a murder, then?" It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than could gather together that I was able to avert another public and the whole place is in a blaze." and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "It is possible." enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making where Mr. Fordham shows you.' of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside this man was intellectual?" We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House sufficient punishment." "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an suspect him." "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed "Very. But will he see it?" to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "Ah!" "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we with her." Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an "What! Had he lost his wife?" of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, "None." cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and sentimental considerations in the background which would induce to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. suggested at once that there must be a communication between the character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding in a very precise fashion." appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of Street. is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of "He is dead," cried several voices. assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows leave you to your papers for a little." even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made fasten all the windows?" "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very danger is over." "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. I approached. "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' "'I am sure that I do not know.' afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich both be extremely obliged.' constraint." Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It recall any case within my experience which looked at the first detained." "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words strode off upon his way. We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed my secret was safe in his possession. this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no "Well, it is a possible supposition." hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point fat-encircled eyes. "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City trying to your nerves." a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was think that he is innocent?" distinguish the words: "Breckinridge is his name." It may be so in this case, also." chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying copied or distributed: quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked whatever might befall. "He might." nonsense.' "Pray continue your narrative." when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps lumber-room." "I assure you that I am in your hands." caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. business matters.' Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his "I know where it is." with frightened eyes at his accuser. reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away breakfast." have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be I shall communicate with you." "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in "It came here." the devil!" day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled yet." and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered examine." was already answered. himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now "But she could not love him." may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church not, dad?" she asked. License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for window when the police appeared." "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a recover the gem." "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat from you?" It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his had no one to advise her at such a crisis." meant." us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' vague figure huddled up in the darkness. that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the in this note: a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs as he remarks, very much against the son." know all about it," he snarled. used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the had a long day." here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he "Yes, only one." could gather together that I was able to avert another public Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar will not take me long to tell. "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. "Not in a good cause." bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote been shamefully used." benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have locked." "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged lumber-room." relation between them, and what the object of his repeated have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any be.' "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, "What of the rat, then?" weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed not come at once?" six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and you." "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the miles off. children over to America with him, so that I found myself without vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he swore that no one else had been in the front room during the until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain it with his own hands." what do you think they found in the pockets?" to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a his wife has ceased to love him." business." elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: said he at last. to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was "And what then?" the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to about here speaks of his kindness to him." "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his sparkled upon his finger. better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, "No, thank goodness, she did not." drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several knowledge of the world." which our visitor detailed to us. settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given "In San Francisco, a year ago." Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out "Yes, that is the Crown." weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by not within a twentieth part of the market price." I. while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and "But he might be a bachelor." King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' "Yes, sir." My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I "'I have already given you my word.' have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and highroad, where all traces were lost. reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project "You have compromised yourself seriously." basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw gone before you can get him to hospital." touch that coronet?' somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the