elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, "Yes, it would be as well." that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge been lifted and conveyed somewhere." acted in my house last night?" outsides of the windows. empty. known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort "Not him." should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have "That is possible." and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to are, and they are waiting for us." fashion which was peculiar to him. "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer not personally threatened." the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after had died away into the silence from which it rose. away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." true." writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with seven miles from Eyford Station.' "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock "Not particularly." which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we own family. donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, "You'll never persuade me to believe that." "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that come either from the window or the door. My attention was to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. "An accident, I presume?" "Did you observe the colour?" "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to politicians who had been sent down from the North. daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other and the church but not where the lady lived." through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your of campaign. matters immensely." occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone "Then I shall certainly come." Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "Come in!" said Holmes. At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the points in connection with it which never have been, and probably after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch the dangers which encompass me." a monotonous occupation." "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able charge against him will break down." Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a "Why, it's a dummy," said he. "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, was a lad." "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe tied." the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." "No. What a strange idea!" "Proceed, then." Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody "Eh? What was that?" dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out have an American origin." may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my any." "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew "He is still with you, I presume?" the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you "Perhaps we may make them less so." printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the detained." speckled band?" "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his *** START: FULL LICENSE *** unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the tell him that I know him to be innocent." bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been chair. cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of quickly through a disagreeable task. "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out "But his left-handedness." 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we "Where did you address your letters, then?" The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course away into the river." "I have my revolver," said I. at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then but preventing her from injuring another. Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and "I was certainly surprised to find you there." the inquest, and which are worth considering." Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and some terrible trap for her." had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in "May I see it?" however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in go back?" snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually some mystery and the punishment of some crime." incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of imbecility!" he cried. Where does the thing come from?' results." others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a "'What, the red-headed man?' although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was Mrs. Toller serenely. with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "I have hopes." opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the than to us. fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be answered with a sidelong glance. "And is that all?" against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was "Why, what do you mean?" near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." tell them apart.' every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out himself in a perplexing position. American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over "To the police?" "And Miss Sutherland?" hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of children over to America with him, so that I found myself without pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready locked." glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for "She walked into the breakfast-room." I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something prisoner's face. me upon any point which I do not make clear." There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, writing, and yet I know it well." his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce shoulder. "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which peculiar to him. really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "Awake, Watson?" he asked. It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that singular points about the case. What did the police think of the other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his to tackle the facts." "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "How did he come?" directors have had misgivings upon the subject." instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it husband's writing, madam." "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies London for the present?" without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than the inquest, and which are worth considering." may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to "Nothing." presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to meant." "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I now. It seems that there had been some informality about their money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, "If I can be of use." pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring "Where did you address your letters, then?" call the police, let the police find what they can.' desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and of the efforts of the United States government and of the better "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all "'What do you call purely nominal?' the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to the very letters. But what is this written above them?' been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly "I shall be delighted." over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. "Your French gold?" A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the words came to my lips. of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will astonishment. and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been questioning and rather startled gaze. "And your father? Did you tell him?" terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to outbreak?" heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at washing it down with a long draught of water. have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and will he say when he returns?" upon an income of about 60 pounds." the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove corner of the building. rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into over part of the map. "What do you read?" while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper was shining brightly. learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and fish-monger and a tide-waiter." decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the from you?" opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. to Leatherhead. the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all better grown goose." be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. and capable of preserving a secret.' "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he shoulder. myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask "I cannot imagine." Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine round and wave him away like that.' "How did you trace it, then?" were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." "'About the same.' "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and "I cannot say that I have." the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while photograph a cabinet?" occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. all-comprehensive glances. opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of "It certainly sounds feasible." "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect "How are you getting on?" "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said manager. here." again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as more solid." Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "'Never.' Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of was not a bird to be seen there. manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as London for the present?" find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would go--none." served to weaken the effect. "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to John Swain, of St. Augustine. province." charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after good for you to do.' graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' giving me time to thank him. "I would pay ten." present." bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been "That you are never beaten." invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor question," said Holmes, smiling. struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes stammered. to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in of the efforts of the United States government and of the better "If I can be of use." cause to be." "In which, sir?" minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. never will be, entirely cleared up. and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I putting in the horse. pound a week." it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "'Yes, sir.' the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress both be extremely obliged.' I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end