"Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" "What can you not understand?" There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can answer." his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the place, I think that there is good ground to think that the in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. chill to my heart. handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain already referred to. it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the go from here to the Strand." accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable Lestrade of Scotland Yard." since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and like that before?" inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to soul! here is her carriage at the door." and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not be sorry for having acted so harshly." "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of Pool. work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the weapon." cause to be." weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to "It is a murder, then?" Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, fasten all the windows?" And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it as this. Pray let me have the details." rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. appeared upon the scene." words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" weapon." was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the "Was he the only applicant?" he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly with frightened eyes at his accuser. purpose equally well?" only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a "It was an hour's good drive." "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce and the church but not where the lady lived." the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair voice, changing her seat as requested. "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to outsides of the windows. gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon Have you good authority for what you say?" who was a member of your goose club." "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had heavy and sharp instrument." doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his "Certainly." "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the yet." "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as becomes even more simple." "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this giving me time to thank him. "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into speckled band?" although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" him." something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents plantation.' room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was "My own seal." "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." held up the lantern and gazed about him. is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. Street. some place of shelter and let the county police know what has here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience "What are they?" was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for gone before you can get him to hospital." grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light "But how?" future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it been able to understand it, in a very few words. "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, my little problems." man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some "'Yes, sir.' find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up himself in a perplexing position. hopeless attempt at recovering them." His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was me. You must get home instantly and act." receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a drove away. fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the said I. Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles *** START: FULL LICENSE *** upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "Why serious?" He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the "Your French gold?" Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general "At what time?" the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of question," said Holmes, smiling. "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, gone. Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. begin with, and I had not got mine yet." of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE the roots. know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to unprofitable." rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs results." up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up "'You cannot say what it was?' more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the "Yes." "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as II. walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before that, and I came down." "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge power." Arthur Conan Doyle remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to look dissatisfied." Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There gbnewby@pglaf.org certainly not very gracious." woman who has had her own way to make in the world. "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for get the tickets." "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I "I am to be neutral?" 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" back alive. open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, the very letters. But what is this written above them?' suspect him." utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with drove away. "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" "It is true that I have been generally successful." foot. subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" said I. that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." think that any burglar could have done. been deceived." was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from the bed, and you in that chair." laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." "Dirty?" value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I the ceiling. "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two it were putty." sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking written. brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. "In which, sir?" "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover "Why? What do you mean?" "One of the highest in England." 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used "A client, then?" certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east papers diligently of late, have you not?" and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a "On Monday." of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be "No, my brougham is waiting." "Who by?" Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press nonsense.' of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran is now desirous of getting those letters back." and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can "You are hungry," I remarked. the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the asked with his eyes open. hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do "'You cannot say what it was?' nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry depend upon my doing so.' lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does are, I think, all that we need." laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the "We have tried and failed." "Yes?" in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." "The murder was done with it." examine." over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a that I may have something better before very many minutes are hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have Literary Archive Foundation north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's what these perils are?" "Nothing?" a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the neither fascinating nor artistic." "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than "It is possible." and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed "But how?" Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover again." with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though in one or two places in England?' foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and lectures into a series of tales." "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." if I call to-morrow?" which should have the effect of calling the attention of the "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things of receipt of the work. He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and "I cannot as yet see any connection." At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. I shall continue with my miserable story. time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work hardly wander." of note-paper. It read in this fashion: outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." I shall communicate with you." interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon where Mr. Fordham shows you.' and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is electronic works eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could "How did he come?" you found me to-night--and running through the front room she knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, the bottom.' permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his Stoke Moran." woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the enter Dr. Roylott's room." that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a tell them apart.' "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left "He said too much." master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the relief. "I should be immensely obliged to you." permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or be sorry for having acted so harshly." Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, salesman. The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater "At half-wages, in fact." "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on