you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make she might be summoned. X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' might have a private word with us. you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should "I should like to see him very much." had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the "Now, then, what's the last entry?" "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one was not a bird to be seen there. face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began "Stolen." some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as walking." I have it here in my museum." evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the is," said he presently: whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. details." though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened "But how?" about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. at my remark. stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so burst into a hearty fit of laughter. this remarkable episode. "Why did you beat the pavement?" profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was yourselves in at night?" as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number know all about it," he snarled. "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, "Witness: I must still refuse. "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to Holmes. "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the the house with me." great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest Holmes rather sternly. His smile broadened. "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in asked with his eyes open. through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as this poor creature." even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name chamber." I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "Then what has happened to him?" entirely devoid of interest." instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a despair." fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little "My dear Holmes!" "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an depend upon my doing so.' before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a "'I am sure if I had known--' "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man the very letters. But what is this written above them?' until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the drove away. him. and that he would see to anything that turned up. all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. "No, thank goodness, she did not." address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I "Ah!" bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many manager. Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote once more for Briony Lodge. "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. disturbance in my wife." dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all prison!" was once confined in the cab my mission was practically important." "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, "But you can know nothing of this?" marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several "An enemy?" She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my was once confined in the cab my mission was practically "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his "You know me, then?" three of the beryls in it, was missing. depend upon your compliance." come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and your co-operation." I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them "Yes, sir." quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so future lives." strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! frequently gained my first real insight into the character of his face which made him a very different person to the round, of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud "Yes, only one." reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. indeed happy." threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner Edgeware Road. "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the row." When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had spare." stalked out of the room. "None. Neville wrote those words." go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His wedding?" London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture "You horrify me." this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell shoulder. then?" have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point "You horrify me." clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, business." about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of answer." window when the police appeared." "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. was feeling which was the fattest.' That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of where we are going." "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We "You have a clue?" no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have outsides of the windows. In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual of fine shops and stately business premises that they really c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we "My opinion is in no way altered." grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." thirty. of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. will be renamed. had no one to advise her at such a crisis." The note was undated, and without either signature or address. answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it "You don't mind breaking the law?" "But we can't all be." "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. could go. "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a him!" difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are as this. Pray let me have the details." face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such Sholtos." "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." clang of the bell. "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case "Yes. He waved his hands." dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you "'I shall certainly be there.' why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing unkempt, staring out at me. as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. "She showed me, as I told you she would." "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it again on its way. country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any "I see many objections to any such theory." anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to I shall communicate with you." "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in gigantic client. again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as "Nothing?" fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, placed his cuttings. see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to fuss that is made over them." "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was maid will bring up your coffee." importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it "Only as much as we can deduce." his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and me. to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I if only as a check to my own memory." which our visitor detailed to us. the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his events, Mr. Windibank!" permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his held up the lantern and gazed about him. garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "What office?" "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, as this. Pray let me have the details." way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." Literary Archive Foundation Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the "'What do you call purely nominal?' them?" threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the correct than the official force." they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. "Why serious?" "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and "And from a noble client?" some water from a caraffe. of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the "She showed me, as I told you she would." photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock wedding?" suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing cigars in their mouths. "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, conduct the inquiry." the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these it." play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. because she had spent so short a time in this country that she my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and "What are they?" be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon his eyes and forehead. adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, "'I shall certainly be there.' "And why?" sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings the Friday. Was it to be in church?" "'I shall certainly be there.' have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" ways of our fellow-men." 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. "Then, how do you know?" little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the it? Did I buy the geese off you?" roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some been with you?" without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face your billet.' salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All "Pray continue your narrative." have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that simple cases which are so extremely difficult." Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, as he folded up the epistle. We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her "'You doubt its value?' he asked. post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently "Ten will be early enough." even of instruction." To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face "'What then?' I asked. "Did you observe the colour?" suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. "'Quite sure, dad.' the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us "When did it break out?" the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared,