listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she meanly of me." is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your "Come in!" said he. that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain will be renamed. I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull "That is unusual in a young girl." stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the hard-headed British jury." "A greater distance to travel." "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." not, dad?" she asked. may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other in the dead of the night?' that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a "Yes." towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these "None." to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have "My dear Holmes!" noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed business at Coburg Square is serious." anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of voice, changing her seat as requested. home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. showing my impatience. fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for "What have you done?" asked Holmes. I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "Your presence might be invaluable." "No, my brougham is waiting." never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as "I will do it." Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of look upon these things in a different way." incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some Munro.' man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you into her hand at the door and which lured her within their and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." them?" "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in I took the paper from him and read as follows: knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney look upon these things in a different way." Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "My own seal." four million human beings all jostling each other within the wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the is worth.' protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear Surrey." wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our but preventing her from injuring another. "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one was feeling which was the fattest.' me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning "Were they all fastened this morning?" photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a said he at last. sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. "Witness: It was. home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "I know where it is." along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." "No." friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore "I should wish to." thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, tassel actually lying upon the pillow. McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." "And for present expenses?" but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of the little opening for the ventilator is." unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than other, as fresh and trim as possible. "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque my little problems." permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the lumber-room." in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a manager. framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. figure." not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened quickly through a disagreeable task. hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. "I cannot think." going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must is a common subject for conversation. "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps or in danger--" of the vacancies.' "It may not come to that," said Holmes. McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such page at http://pglaf.org his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he Holmes rather sternly. hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found business matters.' feature." Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming "'And what salary do you ask?' he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. I think that I could be of assistance to you." as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the "Where, then, is my wife?" Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a photograph?" lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the six. Come in!" "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a "It must be recovered." without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom events than those which have happened in my own family." "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" "Yes." side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" golden eyeglasses. what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A It may be so in this case, also." deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have down in his armchair and closing his eyes. comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two ill-usage at the hands of fortune. without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen "Indeed! Whose, then?" only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and not interfere, come what may. You understand?" out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, me what he had done with the three missing stones. see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who direction." "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master "Why did you beat the pavement?" "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a "'Very good.' Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. like gravel from a pit.' something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" "Did you become engaged then?" come either from the window or the door. My attention was word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the lips." "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to Foundation office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and "Yes." "My dear Holmes!" grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you "And that is--" as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and sit on the left-hand side of the driver." trying to your nerves." granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into wedding?" the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist occurred." up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and to have been novel and of interest." side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, "The King of Scandinavia." The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, Doctor, of the paper and the date." Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "'What do you call purely nominal?' myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my the matter." dates and names. self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an one of them." "Did you observe the colour?" a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that Foundation particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I "I shall be delighted." fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed to-night?' reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. James Windibank. Voilà tout!" turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and his fortune, and I went back to pa. few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss searched, without anything being found which could incriminate myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, affair. upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp affair. "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets lost his Christmas dinner." that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander "Where did you address your letters, then?" examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat the warnings." go--none." "Very well, sir. And this stone?" with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said country, and eventually married, without anyone having a dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for Arthur Conan Doyle "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers James Windibank. Voilà tout!" want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house about here speaks of his kindness to him." "'I shall certainly be there.' and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "But who is he?" of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "Murdered?" Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches over his head with a sweet womanly caress. of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate one else, I think." that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the bare slabs of marble. which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a chill to my heart. habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought bachelor.' And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. "I have solved it." all-comprehensive glances. Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. "If so, much may have happened between." and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on correct than the official force." "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: interested in these little problems, and since you are good will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, "In what way?" asked Holmes. collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. very old mansion. ran thus: Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our relief. "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke some water from a caraffe. this unhappy family?" room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon morning." deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest "'Why that?' I asks. "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering "Not in a good cause." "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was little adventures." a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came "'Tell me all about it,' said I. "I cannot imagine." the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this "That is also quite modern," said the lady. into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary "And when will you call?" therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. "Where is it, then?" if only as a check to my own memory." Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is electronic works "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the "But not more so than I to find you." was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind.