so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men "'I am sure if I had known--' police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" "But he might be a bachelor." considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, "'I have already given you my word.' sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing fled together." natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so "Then the page we have seen--" "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite roused himself from his reverie. my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out "Yes, only one." "It is no ordinary one." of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in I shall continue with my miserable story. into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have the driver. "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he the south-west, I see." "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you little adventures." and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the floor. "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client which I could not give. He asked for Alice. thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin useful material for showing traces. The double line a little present." "Eh? What was that?" this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at where she found matters as described by the last witness. dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid down in his armchair and closing his eyes. "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw were unconscious?" that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." I shall continue with my miserable story. sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable "But to whom?" to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons astonishment. fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid was it brought him the coronet? "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel in the port of London." "She will not sell." "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming "In answer to an advertisement." gives a meaning to it." "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not have been better. It is all right." age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR and the church but not where the lady lived." my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have "No, distinctly professional." "Get out!" said he. "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but learned something! Where are the gems?" "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let your bag." Watson," he said cordially. hardly wander." know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a question," said Holmes, smiling. "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the "In what way?" asked Holmes. woman who has had her own way to make in the world. I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of be sorry for having acted so harshly." "'I shall certainly be there.' better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them "I say it is." "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief "'Certainly,' I answered. "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of "Stolen, then." X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR Pope's Court, Fleet Street." "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior outside. will be renamed. dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. you, my dear young lady?' this unhappy family?" line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, becomes even more simple." police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by IS confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through "Absolutely none." bears upon the case?" "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his bird of prey. I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through it right.' seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house appointment with me for six o'clock?" ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere "'What do you call purely nominal?' once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the chance." refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining "I say it is." "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until "Absolutely none." showing my impatience. Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and entirely devoid of interest." should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could straightened it out again. reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and there!' Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There "9th. McCauley cleared. waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered as he remarks, very much against the son." whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you awaited us upon the table. "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you see me here to avoid scandal." pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the goes." sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save is now desirous of getting those letters back." "What then?" "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my "Yes, they were peculiar boots." pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our "I should wish to." adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, sit on the left-hand side of the driver." initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated fashion which was peculiar to him. from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" "Very. But will he see it?" He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped "Two days later this same performance was gone through under Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' "But how?" importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather main points of my analysis." severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to relation between them, and what the object of his repeated and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. "Did you observe the colour?" gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, both be extremely obliged.' of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very what do you think they found in the pockets?" I took the paper from him and read as follows: "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free together. should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" His smile broadened. look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the "We were both in the photograph." since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of "None." "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, green of the new foliage. "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by she might be summoned. "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He to go into your room and bar your shutters?" a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. "But how did you gain them?" say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid security.' transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as matter over." "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that "Her father is very rich?" "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can washing it down with a long draught of water. pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to "How can you tell that?" shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." "But you can know nothing of this?" go back?" to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that again." Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been "I should wish to." he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked said I. quite distinctive." permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. bird of prey. all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would "You think so, too?" "He is still with you, I presume?" for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." "Quite so." same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the "No?" and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere the nursery. typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique "A client, then?" lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built disturbance in my wife." would apply.' believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the forecastle of an emigrant ship. Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to The summons was a brief and urgent one. will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no of note-paper. It read in this fashion: and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." wedding?" ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident "I answered that I had not. beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of your troubles." "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. Mrs. Toller serenely. Dr. Gregory B. Newby "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to here." "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I conduct the inquiry." mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door where Mr. Fordham shows you.' without success. At last the little money which I had saved began people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly families. Now for the facts. spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, time." "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding him." come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and helping a boy to put up the shutters. "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." yourselves in at night?" Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, learned something! Where are the gems?" friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own will he say when he returns?" to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. "Now, then, what's the last entry?" snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who questionable one." "'As governess?' "How can you tell that?" of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose foot. Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would to talk it over. down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "'Then let me do so?' pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the "You'll never persuade me to believe that." presume?" saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for "What then?" strange features which were associated with the two crimes which *** START: FULL LICENSE *** strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client three fields round his house, and there he would take his Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" them?" it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's "'And what are they worth?' I asked. should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, "Not in a good cause." the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I my room." might help us?" "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' and the church but not where the lady lived." "Dirty?" Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I congenial hunt. forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no "And what then?" Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the "'Ten to two.' bird of prey. was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a