the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last tell them apart.' Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my "Indeed! Whose, then?" her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious "Will you go?" however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of "A confidential servant?" have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR towards the blaze. held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be gone. met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." "What office?" quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon all-comprehensive glances. search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur coat-tails." emerged. had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be written, and locked the door of the office after me. spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and I held the little printed slip to the light. held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is second." left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our went to the Alpha were town bred." hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we "Very well, sir. And this stone?" shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't "How can you tell that?" was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the Surrey." other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my hair?' I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of "But how?" "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the "Awake, Watson?" he asked. Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my even of instruction." envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the enough to aid us in our search." open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before wedding?" blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." certainly do as you advise." "Yes, at the mines." been with you?" "But his lameness?" observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. depend upon your compliance." my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who his face. suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless "What steps will you take?" I asked. "No sign of it?" unclasping of his long thin hands. I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and copied or distributed: signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might which was all perfectly true. were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric husband's writing, madam." "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now criminal. We have already had experience of such." be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, "He might." in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't "I do." "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. business in the City. She little knew what. bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was disturbance in my wife." investigation." "I fear not." Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the "I was certainly surprised to find you there." quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your presented which may be striking and bizarre without being "'Certainly not. But why?' have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low Again Holmes raved in the air. same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of vault. 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San "It is no ordinary one." "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the were unconscious?" room. "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, "Well, but China?" exactly what you advise." "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, clang of the bell. It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late "I will, Miss Turner." strange features which were associated with the two crimes which "Here?" "About a month then." "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That "The rest you will leave in our hands." prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering and shall probably return to London by the evening train." have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to lamp. his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, returning from some small jollification and was making his way exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast "None." of campaign. a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was that you wished to speak to me?' saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. the nursery. so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has into the room. sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the "No." over here." generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no "But you would not advise me to refuse?" formed some opinion?" "I do." and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a "It goes to the housekeeper's room." "But how?" other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was shoulder; "he's all right." About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, "And who is her maid?" the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed as this. Pray let me have the details." in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, "A call for help, you thought?" of your young ladies.' Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady galvanised. you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, friends, not even his own brother. it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me I nodded to show that I had heard. would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we "He might." he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. "My dear Holmes!" quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his may have an influence upon European history." very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "And that is--" "Then I do not see the point." time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every such attractions and accomplishments?' part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" whole matter to your consideration." letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of your own bird, so if you wish--" finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother secret." He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her "The doctor?" fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little prepare for the new role I have to play." it. "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate said I. afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it thought that she would have been so carried away." to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! "The decline of his fortunes, then?" straightened it out again. that, and I came down." not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "'Where to?' better grown goose." astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may pound a week." observed. "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for enter Dr. Roylott's room." stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a strength in the others." me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it Mrs. Toller serenely. shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from "And that is--" "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing tear off another piece?' The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and disturbance in my wife." police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was business in the City. She little knew what. rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "Where did you address your letters, then?" the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an the stones. like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." gone before you can get him to hospital." would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw children over to America with him, so that I found myself without fact, we may call it conclusive." were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time troubles have been weighing upon his mind. "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern head. So long, then!" "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be "Awake, Watson?" he asked. alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, "How often?" their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, mysterious business." "What is it?" weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by "I am to be neutral?" house for five minutes.' to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in "Just look it up, then." recall any case within my experience which looked at the first it." brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and of them has the shutters up.' post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and depend upon my doing so.' Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: footfalls from the street. "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily at my remark. at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at "What are they?" it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate bled considerably." house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. stood on the top of it. "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with Sutherland?" them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is "My photograph." hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at always that they were such commands as a lady might with course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." easy-going way." machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the 1.E.9. "And now?" I asked. "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a flock.' "We must sit without light. He would see it through the which we had just quitted. but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing "Who by?" know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted "Yes, they were peculiar boots." companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and hand, madam?" why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by "It is possible." hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change some mystery and the punishment of some crime." I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case me. the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir "But of what society?" the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door if I call to-morrow?" two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, sneer upon his pale face. upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by most interesting one." equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City his fortune, and I went back to pa. the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me "So I heard. You have him here?" my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in