possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned "Yes. He waved his hands." I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' gigantic client. "How many? I don't know." possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of present strange and interesting features that it is no easy the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage the address that was given us in the advertisement. This is what he says: mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right details." alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of "If so, much may have happened between." that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize lost his Christmas dinner." and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, security.' In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a "My dear Holmes!" bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and "His face fell immediately. "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to "Yes." long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his "But I am all in the dark." to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two sufficient punishment." gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than are windows in it, of course?" freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, "I guessed as much." have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the again." the so-precious time, but come!' from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year the coronet in his hands?" of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." "Then I shall certainly come." "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the "My stepfather's business papers." had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's to a more successful conclusion." "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a do.' places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a "How are you getting on?" aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no "'What are you doing there?' he asked. passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned wanted for ourselves." "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "BALLARAT." shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few beg that you will break it off." "So I heard. You have him here?" "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police "You were travelling in the States?" "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other Surrey." fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door about here speaks of his kindness to him." most important business. It is probable that he will be away all impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient "Yes." he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable then?" about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in business came to an end." "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as his cane at the bell-pull. police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw case before our client came into the room." "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as nothing of it?" "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to question you as to those details which seem to me to be most the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked rooms." Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest said he. as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against "I know where it is." been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. followed. method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this "And you thought he was pulled back?" "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an "'Is 4 pounds a week.' have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the Watson," he said cordially. as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both "You think so, too?" me." to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." some place of shelter and let the county police know what has "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to "He is dead," cried several voices. slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been "How did you trace it, then?" "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you "Now, then, what's the last entry?" "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon awkward doing business with an alias." continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." see a sister of mine apply for." With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to strength." we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me from you?" "He said too much." Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think affair. heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. what is your own theory as to what took place?" of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old Leave Paddington by the 11:15." address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William crackling voice. not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the think that he is innocent?" pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away considering the formidable letters which were received by himself "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, point in the dark hollow of his hand. are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others to miss it." "Perfectly so." We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" hard-headed British jury." points in connection with it which never have been, and probably hereditary King of Bohemia." "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the and put his glass in his pocket. "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he "But to whom?" "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification affection." impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen on re-entering her father's house?" freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go "Do you go out much in society?" erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, "What will you say?" that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence mysterious business." Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide Literary Archive Foundation thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and "What can it mean?" I gasped. "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his chance." Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." before the coroner and the police-court." "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. His name is Francis Prosper." husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink towards the blaze. to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away secret." "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself "Because he was handy and would come cheap." most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and yet." shadow pass over his face as I spoke. his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I in this way: lectures into a series of tales." I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table anything to a woman, for she would have her way." Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the "Well, it is a possible supposition." knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled name is different." "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness "'And what are they worth?' I asked. "Oh, yes, easily." he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate Pope's Court. How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have when you have done it." bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over in darkness. time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by said I. room had already been engaged for us. "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and "An accident, I presume?" Pope's Court. "'Not at all. I only doubt--' went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should "Where, then?" thin, with a long, sharp nose?" "What of the rat, then?" "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which "A thing like a cleaver," said he. to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I unkempt, staring out at me. morning." of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back his forehead." greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "That is possible." to his chemical studies. of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock "Then what has happened to him?" long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his an introduction to him?" cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "Perfectly so." stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A papers." words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, and inquire as to the address." animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who been deceived." week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low crowd. X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR strong reason behind." impression behind it as though a window had gently closed "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." depend upon your compliance." Street. arrangements." "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his me upon any point which I do not make clear." weighed down with some great anxiety. slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon letters?" spare." was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is "Why? What do you mean?" "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is "'Yes.' "What then?" fled together." were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this most interesting one." house for five minutes.' too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the purpose of examination. which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little "That also I could fathom." dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second to-night." sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is results." and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that indeed happy." his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which woven round him. at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." sofa. This way, please!" down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should "What of the rat, then?" hopeless attempt at recovering them." permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "'Oh, no.' "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly Munro.' sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the entirely lost his self-respect." "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more.