the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, "Why, it's a dummy," said he. "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." corner of the building. "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they congratulate you again." therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant coroner's jury." of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House conceal it?" sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the "You horrify me!" I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I were new raised from a basin. electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. is acting for the best. have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not "We were both in the photograph." Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" back to my heart. "Can I be of assistance?" "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes constraint." gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" "What can you not understand?" eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and once more to my work. pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. "I cannot tell." there!' Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the without success. At last the little money which I had saved began "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw "That is easily got." Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. "She told me to ask you." through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more "'Certainly,' I answered. voice, changing her seat as requested. acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and must be when I saw the door open.' Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, strong and stiff." "Pray let us have it, for all that." "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as gbnewby@pglaf.org his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a skylight. for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet served to weaken the effect. never came back." as the one I chose?' of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing went to the Alpha were town bred." "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." bachelor.' to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are "Could he throw no light?" "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. away into the river." "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was just called myself is not exactly my own." fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's your equipment. and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten it." circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would such attractions and accomplishments?' "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to "I am to be neutral?" It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, I held the little printed slip to the light. was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his problems help me to do so." "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a results." "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for indeed which he could not unravel. letters?" "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most wedding?" "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it have established a very serious case against the son of the he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, upon an income of about 60 pounds." I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is "I am in hopes that she does." gentleman's clothes. stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and lamp in his hand. every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; just called myself is not exactly my own." occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar "Entirely." centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Here?" as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were "Certainly." "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." man. forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor along the entire front of the house, with three long windows is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel charged with?" social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "Yes." "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an "I am following you closely," I answered. "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and "Whose house is it?" case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "It came here." Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, Watson," he said cordially. confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I writer." which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" of Mr. Rucastle's." agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to he. was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! "So I have heard." the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." wanted for ourselves." mystery may be cleared along those lines." "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of subject to the trademark license, especially commercial man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, searched, without anything being found which could incriminate the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." 11:15.' not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "I cannot imagine." you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped "Yes." "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his late!' and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to himself. sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "No, I think that I'll take it." ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & his forehead." his face. and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the went to the Alpha were town bred." One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have "But I am all in the dark." see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed dates and names. like gravel from a pit.' have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, "Very murderous indeed." He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a off." assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to their singular warning or token before them when starting upon least a most suspicious remark." exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said cheerful." bed dies. Does not that strike you?" horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as bed dies. Does not that strike you?" strong reason behind." respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in from you?" in one or two places in England?' "What have you to say now?" papers diligently of late, have you not?" to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely acquaintance?" very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a You can understand that this register and diary may implicate was already answered. foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire generous with you in money matters.' suspect him." fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. voice. throat." was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" "Pray do so." conclusions. learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and again." wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My brain must have something in it." get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you "But you were on a friendly footing?" when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain in him." of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon Pope's Court, Fleet Street." you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been hand, madam?" at my own good fortune. could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room yards of it?' Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having examination of the premises, but without finding anything which withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows Holmes' room. the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his License. You must require such a user to return or that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading "What can you not understand?" "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, door?" civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was "Then he might have called to you?" reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. occupations.' call you and give you the chance." foresight and the moral retrogression?" us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black where she found matters as described by the last witness. sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, business?" again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," cheerful." "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive there were so many in the whole country as were brought together Leave Paddington by the 11:15." morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a chambers. "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "10th. John Swain cleared. fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause the one as in the other." "'And what are they worth?' I asked. an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "Certainly." other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you "My dear Holmes!" deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his companion. course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should allusion to a rat. vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and of a light. saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned "Why, it's a dummy," said he. lids now and glanced across at his visitor. "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. "I have hopes." "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "To an end?" had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so what these perils are?" "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "My dear Holmes!" and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" never will be, entirely cleared up. License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, "Yes." his wife has ceased to love him." "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left sufficient punishment." "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "Who was the criminal, then?" "One of his hands." that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. you." father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the "Why, what do you mean?" wall." time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. and all of them with the keenest interest. "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never his fortune, and I went back to pa. of the vacancies.' As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some "That is not always so easy." I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic appeal." "No good news?" save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and tapping his fingers upon the table. a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, never will be, entirely cleared up. eat it." Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive the night.' reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his "The rest you will leave in our hands." singular points about the case. What did the police think of the whether it answered to the description of any of their has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me