first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, persecution?" me." words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that child?' "I cannot imagine." public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," down in his armchair and closing his eyes. "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive question you as to those details which seem to me to be most sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his tell them apart.' "Do you go out much in society?" wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, back into the street. my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the "I would pay ten." perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his ready to-morrow?' time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers Serpentine Avenue. companion quietly. Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a better in every way that they should make their position a little you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I "What do you mean?" "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my "I shall be delighted." lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had purpose of examination. of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. since then to throw any light upon what became of him." "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. as noiselessly as she had come. door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I "Why, what do you mean?" read over the extraordinary announcement. with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, it." which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." must be when I saw the door open.' "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and "But it has twice been burgled." when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR direction." air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, "Holmes, the busybody!" "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was my special province." rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "No legal papers or certificates?" with the outside air!" I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in friend's singular character. I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. you?" down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people "I would pay ten." That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found ventilator." himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and entirely devoid of interest." Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the some mystery and the punishment of some crime." to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the is," said he presently: analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open to-morrow." "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, "You saw the ventilator, too?" coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left than to us. said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I "To ruin me." it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door cause to be." "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "No legal papers or certificates?" one of the states of the Union." in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! discontent upon his features. subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for your bag." "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five tear off another piece?' brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring knowledge of the world." "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which "I see many objections to any such theory." you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is "That is unusual in a young girl." and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that of your young ladies.' lamp. and the colonel ushered me in. "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" "So I heard. You have him here?" at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy his forehead." mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge own family. "Pray do so." dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort test if we have an answer to our advertisement." tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a back alive. nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and "Then I shall certainly come." more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, "You have but to name it." "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to "We must have a cab." as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There this remarkable episode. I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he one which it was hard to resist. is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door "I beg pardon." "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. Arthur Conan Doyle repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated went to the Alpha were town bred." Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. late!' is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the highly," said Holmes. was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon nothing of it?" up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs soul! here is her carriage at the door." "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the chambers. come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider papers must be those that are destroyed.' charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look felt?" seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in second window is the one that I jumped from." far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There down from London to inquire more deeply into it." drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle singular points about the case. What did the police think of the "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say for securing the situation." shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked "It looks newer than the other things?" hurried away. gives a meaning to it." struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I trying to your nerves." of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." The summons was a brief and urgent one. "But the mystery?" "It was." as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any and looked back. "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it "'There is a drive, then?' "This photograph!" It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic "She showed me, as I told you she would." the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily "I assure you that I am in your hands." lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over "But how did you gain them?" (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than yet." us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" with you alone." should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." about. cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent as he folded up the epistle. "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose think that any burglar could have done. "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I companion. The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates writer." we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a criminal. We have already had experience of such." sneer upon his pale face. dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching interests were the same as his." be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any knowledge of the world." while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange I took the paper from him and read as follows: Does that suggest anything?" round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which walking." Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I "Tired-looking or fresh?" turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided "'I am sure that I do not know.' was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to "And it is--" "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "'Why that?' I asks. fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern "When did it break out?" low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "Not social, then?" three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship interests were the same as his." "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in in this way: "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." pictures, libraries, or plate. me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips "You think so, too?" going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. not interfere, come what may. You understand?" round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, copied or distributed: inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the and prosperity to your house. Good-night." passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it tapping his fingers upon the table. ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or know what is wrong with it.' Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he "No bad?" "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. "I have my revolver," said I. to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. "What then?" friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for in a very precise fashion." follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself all-comprehensive glances. "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite take the flies, but not before." green of the new foliage. But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & think that he is innocent?" "'What then?' I asked. hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong hour?'