the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my vague figure huddled up in the darkness. The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. instincts rose up against that laugh. suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' "'Ample.' Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire the side-table." sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a became a certainty. "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" little adventures." in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little prove to be little relation between the different incidents of and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an "I guessed as much." Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled evidence," I remarked. imbecility!" he cried. if she died from some sudden fright." wedding?" the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an "The vanishing of the lady." India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your upon a handsome competence. and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, Miss Holder?" "And help." foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De have had none more fantastic than this." Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. "No sign of it?" alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is October 9, 1890. "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the to arrive at through this?" particular state visit http://pglaf.org bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my "At what time?" ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different must be when I saw the door open.' name is different." "Well, but China?" week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for so far?" the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will keep the flames under. safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where beg that you will break it off." the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an of campaign. window when the police appeared." its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a "No good news?" served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on "Not him." without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' written, and locked the door of the office after me. not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend hardly wander." after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at is entirely a question of barometric pressure." every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily to that open window." I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism chair. sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she "Absolutely?" "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. "What steps will you take?" I asked. "I promise," said Holmes. "What of the rat, then?" it." until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case Pool. analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs morning." unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their 11:15.' "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the matters immensely." burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? "In which, sir?" impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called forehead. "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the coat-tails." harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as conduct the inquiry." matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful read it out to me." giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," "What office?" this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was "But you would not advise me to refuse?" "What will you say?" morning." along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "How did you trace it, then?" Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my invisible to me," I remarked. "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do interests were the same as his." inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with "That is not always so easy." points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or "Is he quiet?" young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his presented more singular features than that which was associated tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he must compliment you." even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." "Not particularly." "But how?" eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it "Not yet." never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a again on its way. central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all occurred." eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." drawing your inferences." to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case "But how?" was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very infinite languor in his face. "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is empty. said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by since then to throw any light upon what became of him." address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached do you make of it all?" which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the and put his glass in his pocket. Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. showing my impatience. from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and province." "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two pressing in one house as in another. the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in The telegram which we eventually received came late one night trifles." could not have written that. It is the German who is so absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely information in his hands the value of which he did not himself Holmes' face clouded over. "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich helping a boy to put up the shutters. away to you." "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to would apply.' "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a to you." enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot answered with a sidelong glance. "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a which we had just quitted. should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would "And on what day did he meet his death?" "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," fact, we may call it conclusive." I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very to-night." "Where did you address your letters, then?" "Whose house is it?" Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear "Entirely." "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from you, my dear young lady?' "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that tell him that I know him to be innocent." straightened it out again. have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this the side-table." In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil she used." "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. bare slabs of marble. "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that "I have hopes." hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my felt the room to be a little close.' months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "Certainly." "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his I am not easy in my mind about them." behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" "Then the page we have seen--" better grown goose." mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a answer." "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. Where does the thing come from?' successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of "None." jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or might help us?" had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have pictures, libraries, or plate. more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for the little opening for the ventilator is." "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the all-comprehensive glances. "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just "Where did he live, then?" "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I which are rolled in Rotterdam." we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg companion imperturbably. Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who nonsense.' to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of "But your client--" "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and awkward doing business with an alias." that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "That sounds a little paradoxical." any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be pierced for earrings?" neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit what these perils are?" confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "But the letter had also a greater distance to come."