chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police hand, madam?" edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "It is very clear." "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" "My dear Holmes!" "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I cheerful." find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray there were one or two details which were new to me. But the hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own "You heard nothing yourself last night?" Watson," he said cordially. meanly of me." beg that you will break it off." tell him that I know him to be innocent." Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "What then?" believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is "I would pay ten." London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, had picked up in the wood. drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like himself in a perplexing position. such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the interest. They are important, you understand, without being didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an "'Is purely nominal.' whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "'What are you doing there?' he asked. opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such over his head with a sweet womanly caress. "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, drawing your inferences." "And your father? Did you tell him?" "'Stolen!' he cried. have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and Holmes rather sternly. mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained there has been an enclosure here!" starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually present strange and interesting features that it is no easy father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a "Where to?" as noiselessly as she had come. events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you fattened it expressly for you.' speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door his wife has ceased to love him." "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to "The doctor?" when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he quick march!" King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were it." the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it "I answered that I had not. into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few in his hands." its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have which our visitor detailed to us. be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face served to weaken the effect. summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father compunction about shooting them down." and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To back into the street. "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have this truth that in these little records of our cases which you "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." "Yes, there are nearly always some there." allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner "Yes, the wine-cellar." impression behind it as though a window had gently closed but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but other, as fresh and trim as possible. another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "Yes." we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white "Then the page we have seen--" "What will you say?" its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you "Why, what do you mean?" in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. "He slept on the premises." breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "What can it mean?" I gasped. up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the lamp in his hand. 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the "My dear Holmes!" "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new "But who is he?" possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott anything to do with the matter?" Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "What office?" most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it goes." should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, of the one which your family is now devouring." "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my ill-usage at the hands of fortune. "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to there is a decided draught." "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "Stolen." might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, matter." "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. fishes. "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by sparkled upon his finger. dear old homesteads?" manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over all?" "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his yards of it?' every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself third from London." round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, from the brougham. or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as presume?" "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm "It was an hour's good drive." was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save "Of what day?" "'About the same.' memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose which we had just quitted. hair?' impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight and the church but not where the lady lived." heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the "By train from Waterloo." presume?" "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his silent! Oh, he will be silent!' despaired of." crowd. of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too rose-bushes. made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But spare." "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." "What of the rat, then?" reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part me. You must get home instantly and act." keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. "Yesterday." "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his of Mr. Rucastle's." the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which dramatic, in fact." reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting details should find their way into the papers. Inspector friend's singular character. "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my furiously. cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were "What then?" "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two criminal. We have already had experience of such." lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and have been better. It is all right." "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, "A thing like a cleaver," said he. had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR drawing your inferences." the bed, and you in that chair." "None." Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, You can understand that this register and diary may implicate "And how did he make his money?" sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at "Yes." signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask "Then the page we have seen--" "But you would not advise me to refuse?" Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would important." to tell." uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client call for protection in the marriage market, for the present "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through that you can jump it.' "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." your room." "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or status with the IRS. c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full "And that is--" to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little your sleep?' out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open she slowly sank and died without having recovered her at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read and no precautions can guard against." often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." galvanised. Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' four million human beings all jostling each other within the "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about and a shock of very red hair. hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." indeed which he could not unravel. gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. him." grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is the matter." and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its at my own good fortune. brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "I say it is." ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, is so. I know all about McCarthy." my friend's incisive reasoning. "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted followed. building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "One of the highest in England." so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little keep the flames under. other, as fresh and trim as possible. fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and "'How far from the body?' same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage the matter." sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "He said too much." know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "He slept on the premises." me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three papers must be those that are destroyed.' "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he but preventing her from injuring another. he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" "I have my revolver," said I. Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "No, I think that I'll take it." opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said ceremony." go back?" unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs dear old homesteads?" looking up at the numbers of the houses." and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind "But how will you look?" peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and "Have you it here?" beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. galvanised. like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a conclusions. have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a begun to whiten, even as mine has." "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, "My stepfather's business papers." "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy of the efforts of the United States government and of the better together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which,