the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. what is your own theory as to what took place?" was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes that threaten you." "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of of." of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the "Murdered?" which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "It is solved." as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society generous with you in money matters.' with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with of Mr. Rucastle's." maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I and your relations to her." Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." there has been an enclosure here!" "I never have." heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting tied." "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. anything to do with the matter?" usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove tapping his fingers upon the table. miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, papers." But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his that?' the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not "It's nothing of the kind." "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the "You have carte blanche." "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice said I. this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended hardly wander." is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." for and were ordered to this address. fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, "I am armed." I took the paper from him and read as follows: which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were I nodded again. some place of shelter and let the county police know what has shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when room. License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been cigars in the box." charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of "What is it, then--a fire?" nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. have an American origin." purpose equally well?" came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will time." bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of believe that I should never have any practice at all. her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the own family. "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom "No good news?" fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. geese which you supplied to the Alpha." of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the with the outside air!" elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful "'There is a drive, then?' I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making "On the contrary, this is the right side." "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" "And is that all?" I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter weigh very heavily upon my conscience." "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked "What, then, did Peterson do?" Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man golden eyeglasses. he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: she used." make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." do.' "Why, it's a dummy," said he. that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank within hail.' remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend over part of the map. "What do you read?" used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." will take you up to see the machine.' job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes you want, then?' "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to "In the cells." highroad, where all traces were lost. "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about the night.' had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" strode off upon his way. deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys Eyford." breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. investigation." "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "How can you tell that?" little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable I took the paper from him and read as follows: had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the "But his lameness?" spare." pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as this man was intellectual?" yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this crime. question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, all-comprehensive glances. pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence "Ah!" "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a for securing the situation." "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the strength of mind to control. "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally 'please.'" vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not me. "The Coroner: What do you mean? he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington "We were both in the photograph." nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door relief. Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "Two days later this same performance was gone through under your billet.' "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and works. See paragraph 1.E below. "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you was it brought him the coronet? "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. infinite languor in his face. happened." "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so brain must have something in it." "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy "Entirely." "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and your troubles." light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a her also." when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her "And how did you find out?" cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' "I have solved it." us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers light and attacked it." the side-table." "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of papers on the sundial.'" waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian details should find their way into the papers. Inspector whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away before, for it was considerably after midnight. really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." details should find their way into the papers. Inspector some place of shelter and let the county police know what has could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that Munro.' astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction business matters.' the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, one of the states of the Union." "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was lost nothing by them." affair. wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then laugh and put his lips to my ear. "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR written, and locked the door of the office after me. but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" hands. "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this or in danger--" "What!" he roared. "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' 'I should be able to look after that for you.' He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the "In heaven's name, what for?" interest. They are important, you understand, without being inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to me, and I could not think that his explanation of the was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb returning from some small jollification and was making his way princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the one's self under obligations.' to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a late." five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get to-night?" I asked. and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they which it had come upon my father." without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean waste of energy." inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the trifles." "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the "Holmes, the busybody!" such person." understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that "'Yes, sir.' look dissatisfied." bled considerably." "Of what?" "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly deduce something from that?" The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I true." Chief Executive and Director residence of the great financier. habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an corner of the building. black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had against a man in the prime of life?" dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "I have a cab outside." "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a you?' "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my "No, I had a dozen." Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously have an American origin." "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then see me here to avoid scandal." hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, the so-precious time, but come!' had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the you." over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of triumphant cloud from his cigarette. and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most "I came to find a friend." seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He "I have a cab outside." half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your she used." Holmes. machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. hour?' isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are fear." just called myself is not exactly my own." explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. back into the street. "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of "Then what has happened to him?" wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you "Yes." "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in rose-bushes. "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, "Was the window open?" opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he business at Coburg Square is serious." "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have crackling voice. play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. me." "Ten will be early enough." sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. it."