beg that you will break it off." Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can "How long did she speak to this Alice?" trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you sooner or later she must fall a victim. rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" chair. very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he out of this horrible affair." "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the You want to know what became of those geese?" all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and "On Monday." "One of the highest in England." that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He and that he would see to anything that turned up. was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full rooms." fattened it expressly for you.' The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and asked. remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to emerged. skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me an introduction to him?" "My photograph." cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the opportunities to fix the problem. which was all perfectly true. "Nearly eleven." his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a you." focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her During two years I have had three consultations and one small cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our used to be." "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical Pool. "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it his knees, staring into the fire. with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to "Dark enough and sinister enough." Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and wedding?" absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy wedding?" which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have "What will you do, then?" call the police, let the police find what they can.' to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he miles off. aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little "Holmes, the busybody!" key turn in the lock." "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called redistribution. during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the once more for Briony Lodge. "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or "Could he throw no light?" play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our wedding?" "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the James Windibank. Voilà tout!" inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, be.' James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a "'Is purely nominal.' "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the "Entirely." on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' voice. ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, II. fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up The note was undated, and without either signature or address. of the way of danger. "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my never came back." cigars in their mouths. "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew "It missed him, then?" at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, a monotonous occupation." anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in "You'll never persuade me to believe that." bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over front of the hall door has given its name to the place. said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in "How about poison?" "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. "'Why that?' I asks. 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is foot. remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." "'What then?' I asked. III. enough to aid us in our search." behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was "Stolen, then." Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son this poor creature." breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat chambers. all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his and the whole place is in a blaze." the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I bill, which interests me deeply." drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, through." would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything head. So long, then!" just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy "We must have a cab." "There is the writing." settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent "Do you receive much company?" he asked. "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late correct than the official force." "You did not overhear what they said?" hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a recover the gem." already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his confronted him. an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is "Not in a good cause." With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the "What do you make of that, Watson?" glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly criminal. We have already had experience of such." me have 200 pounds?' upon an income of about 60 pounds." for the market.' road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "Who was the criminal, then?" granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at becomes even more simple." never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too of his shoulders. "My photograph." "You are certainly joking, Holmes." is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it "It was a confession," I ejaculated. following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did The summons was a brief and urgent one. finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a once more. posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), the coronet in his hand?" would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are "A client, then?" union?" passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one again on its way. "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is said I. asked. of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little his knees, staring into the fire. we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to of." "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She down from London to inquire more deeply into it." as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She "Well, but China?" "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that occupations.' to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence more terrible than the truth. that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom that?' there!' also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored "I shall most certainly do so." "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your towards the blaze. been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to "Ha! you find it so?" "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, national property. I was determined that the law should have its of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough some mystery and the punishment of some crime." did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself in his hands." Watson," he said cordially. prisoner's face. Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had "Yes." "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, in him." you for a few hours?" "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I meant it for the best. near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. article?" "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the fled together." said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us "You horrify me!" question," said Holmes, smiling. slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his "We were both in the photograph." home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first an introduction to him?" "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, "I guessed as much." A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. "Seven!" I answered. "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand business." lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A the best of training." gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, "Yes, I have one waiting." I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very whereabouts. leaning back in his chair. of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more over with notes and figures. at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, where we are going." at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look "Thank you. And your address?" short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was really the only notable feature about the thing." a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you thirty. disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred "Yes, sir." gentleman's clothes. as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I "Have you it here?" all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and most interesting one." twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was is four-and-twenty." grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted could not account in any way for the presence of the missing vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away business matters.' suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my mysterious business." the very letters. But what is this written above them?' line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they "You think so, too?" "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be page at http://pglaf.org "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." power." without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it answered with a sidelong glance. "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that,