Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own of the vacancies.' 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: to-night's adventure." who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he go back?" because she had spent so short a time in this country that she is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of article?" "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "What will you do, then?" A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked "Was your sister dressed?" the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose them?" "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his 11:15.' the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet eat it." "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency "And how have you succeeded?" We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to for securing the situation." I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers "And how?" As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the you." this as likely?" himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. people in all walks of life. it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. visitors." He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet province." "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is lumber-room." a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up "But the mystery?" breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" do.' for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this goes." "No, thank goodness, she did not." There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong "Not in the least." later, upon the night of May 2nd." deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to cigars in their mouths. the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set "'There is a drive, then?' of the one which your family is now devouring." full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" what is your own theory as to what took place?" "She told me to ask you." heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which second." "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we "'Most admirably.' without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for "What can you not understand?" "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' "No, I am descending." "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few "But the mystery?" was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting Street. comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no "None." the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary again on its way. power." Stoke Moran." "Quite so. She has her freedom." compunction about shooting them down." to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "I shall be delighted." ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me desk. come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some 'please.'" all that?" three fields round his house, and there he would take his existence." "The Cedars?" with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. singular points about the case. What did the police think of the "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from case before our client came into the room." upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a information in his hands the value of which he did not himself of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague you." papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "How on earth--" "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. in this note: "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune DAMAGE. "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were "So I have heard." in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp case before our client came into the room." "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of bonnet, and went out." "'Quite sure, dad.' Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque knowledge of the world." newspaper selections." last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, "You horrify me." Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found golden eyeglasses. is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too thirty. "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, "Precisely." shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are "Why did you pick him?" cup of tea. it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We "Then I am your man." have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true or other trace. But how on earth--" "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my the matter." fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a face and glided from the room. mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, one which it was hard to resist. my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very cost them two and thirty pounds." that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, of." London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We upon an income of about 60 pounds." "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, place of silver." devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon "But what harm can there be in that?" this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange "Nearly eleven." his face which made him a very different person to the round, with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding "Has he come with you to-night?" send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found "Not social, then?" it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever young Openshaw's." Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a "My stepfather's business papers." Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the "But what is it you wish?" "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing door?" hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know is worth.' way: "Then you may be so with me." frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me coroner's jury." About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question But Holmes shook his head gravely. from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed so far?" her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared was already answered. to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had call for it in person on Monday morning.' a room. "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a "I should be immensely obliged to you." "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my that you saw all that I did." revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a allusion to a rat. having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, into the room. father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. that you wished to speak to me?' and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen man. multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then London for the present?" "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers was once confined in the cab my mission was practically called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting the room while you explain this matter?" something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. if only as a check to my own memory." place of silver." morning." "This photograph!" and the colonel ushered me in. through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" "How often?" I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside it? Did I buy the geese off you?" "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a of it with the greatest attention. confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he prove to be little relation between the different incidents of self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side skylight. danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom soul! here is her carriage at the door." that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke legal crime." typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your "Her father is very rich?" months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to the Assizes." low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small acted in my house last night?" firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, in this note: "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. of Mr. Rucastle's." noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man heavily into it. away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a "Who by?" Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at and effective." A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which and inquire as to the address." so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous arrested. You then--" return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling "Yes, they were peculiar boots." and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. have been better. It is all right." "Nor running a chance of arrest?" mysterious end." of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "I am to be neutral?" you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is way: "There are none." son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such most interesting one." right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. "Yes, he did." twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" "No, thank goodness, she did not." jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it I shall continue with my miserable story. really the only notable feature about the thing." the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as wedding?" drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a do.' "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn gone before you can get him to hospital." handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found "Just look it up, then." was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. "'Most admirably.' serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can