"He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the interests were the same as his." downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has "When did it break out?" remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his "Pray do so." hardly wander." "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks weapon." thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian vague figure huddled up in the darkness. himself to hunt down. "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your three fields round his house, and there he would take his adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already possible that we could bring him back to her? little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right writers could invent nothing more crude." insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was relief. which was all perfectly true. and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building done what I asked you, Jones?" case-book, which he consulted. police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that subject to the trademark license, especially commercial forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her "My private note-paper." lumber-room." dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far "Precisely so. But how--" routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of "Come in!" said he. against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold had died away into the silence from which it rose. "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled "No, distinctly professional." the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a "Never." hands. Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair "I cannot think." younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders himself. "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon to some other building. James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a "What are they?" hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his or other trace. But how on earth--" "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the beg that you will break it off." stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was man. I know him from the photograph." signal between you and your father? "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." quick march!" "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring been lifted and conveyed somewhere." the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with "And what did you see?" had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he "Yes." lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, garden below. case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." again, where I was soon asleep. her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the to you." "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. evidence," I remarked. until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that Henry Baker is a member." Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then in one or two places in England?' Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "An accident, I presume?" pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea The telegram which we eventually received came late one night Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of I shall communicate with you." weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no of Fenchurch Street." the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have success. 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with "Do you go out much in society?" at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, "I was mad--insane." follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little the coronet in his hand?" other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place "The Coroner: What do you mean? gives a meaning to it." chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? forebodings. and it need not interfere very much with one's other "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted "An accident, I presume?" this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. you give your casting vote to?" stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup and a shock of very red hair. X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For not, dad?" she asked. this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a me." and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "The rest you will leave in our hands." labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" "But who is he?" in him." robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would sake, don't!" branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, "It is half-past ten now." chambers. blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little 11:15.' "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave may have an influence upon European history." Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself "'Where could I find him?' would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." case before our client came into the room." "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted and no precautions can guard against." smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was breakfast?" consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and appeared upon the scene." coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked "Ample." question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers ill-usage at the hands of fortune. About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord was it brought him the coronet? brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old could go. up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to new duties?' "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One "Precisely." purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered "And the murderer?" interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no which we had just quitted. hair?' "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his head. So long, then!" in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable IS hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." manager. access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was "Seven!" I answered. "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the "BALLARAT." would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I system of imprisonment?" age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." visitors." which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each what I may call a really hard day's work." father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' new duties?' two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. "Nothing." laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, "Then, as to money?" which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will "But how?" hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he "'Is 4 pounds a week.' assist you in forming an opinion." already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come matter." Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, shoulder. The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire Farm upon the left." have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the "What is it, then--a fire?" smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that address. "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what British peeress.'" "Will you bet, then?" responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her "Absolutely?" "I shall most certainly do so." "I have come for advice." "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the charge against him will break down." you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon I am not easy in my mind about them." aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who drove away. be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found to have been novel and of interest." grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their the matter." and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking cigars in their mouths. Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle you?' "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small "This photograph!" where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but have been better. It is all right." heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down Holmes." this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a "Did your wife hear all this?" "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just "And how in the world did you find them?" have an American origin." expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. "Oh, fresh and glossy." "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all over with notes and figures. the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he will find little credit to be gained out of this case." I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I happened." "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at to his chemical studies. "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his I shall continue with my miserable story. after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You shall not find me ungrateful." the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering "None." "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would your only hope of safety." "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is "Dirty?" "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall "'What then?' I asked. "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on at home. "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for to arrive at through this?" you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the "I should like to see him very much." places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just out of this horrible affair." "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project tied." "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the than to us. had a long day." sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door of it with the greatest attention. take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve dates and names. brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had strong and stiff." agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a