quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press "'I am sure that I do not know.' Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical on in his house." story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with "Well, it is a possible supposition." best detective that ever lived. "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. here and I will read it to you: waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he electronic works Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the "A client, then?" mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "Well, some hundreds of times." are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too "Where did you address your letters, then?" present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "But to whom?" I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a had a long day." probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very do you make of it all?" first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." with you alone." "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he "And is that all?" lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his there in twenty minutes." "Married! When?" shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the that before taking the final step I should like to submit the is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little the station." find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want "The vanishing of the lady." I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. "She told me to ask you." entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of "You think so, too?" of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey followed. we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable the salesman. from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his his wife has ceased to love him." had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. upon a handsome competence. charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. "My photograph." He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself Lestrade of Scotland Yard." mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have "Yes." "That is it on the dressing-table." pound a week." it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." "Yes." with the outside air!" family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. "I have come for advice." "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the main points of my analysis." years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied "When did she vanish, then?" have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem "But how?" little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as "If so, much may have happened between." which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice with you alone." 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who "What then?" unclasping of his long thin hands. the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And ill-usage at the hands of fortune. "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain was a perfect sample of the class. against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should yourselves in at night?" their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used bill, which interests me deeply." Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "What can you not understand?" My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what my former friend and companion. "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must particular state visit http://pglaf.org twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon "No." should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not and I shall be with you presently." "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." astonishment. were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in call you and give you the chance." when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "The vanishing of the lady." liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we hereditary King of Bohemia." "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his During two years I have had three consultations and one small may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the "But you have hopes?" Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy fat-encircled eyes. horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House "You heard nothing yourself last night?" he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's footfalls from the street. "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and the matter." business." prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can of it with the greatest attention. fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what believe that I should never have any practice at all. ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand entirely lost his self-respect." remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of the very morning of the wedding." absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which "My private note-paper." was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." "You did not overhear what they said?" for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to you?' Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from sound at heart." you." "The doctor?" "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" "I will do it." "I guessed as much." great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "My photograph." Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the went to the Alpha were town bred." Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the observed. comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience ways including including checks, online payments and credit card the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped Literary Archive Foundation "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced "My stepfather's business papers." "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. better in every way that they should make their position a little "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows coroner's jury." fatally injured? hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for McCarthy." "Ha! you find it so?" "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable Holmes. cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, "'You cannot say what it was?' "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates as this. Pray let me have the details." with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I that you saw all that I did." an introduction to him?" his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? more terrible than the truth. agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle which are rolled in Rotterdam." "No more words. Get out!" if only as a check to my own memory." have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle "That sounds a little paradoxical." ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be morning." friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of were wasted." had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham opened the door, and slipped through. "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce gone. 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great Holmes' face clouded over. "'Never,' said I. "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were your own bird, so if you wish--" the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, been anything against him. He had for years been known as a the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was narrative." and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. one else, I think." attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But whereabouts. had formerly been in part my own. often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." night.' said he. treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name my secret was safe in his possession. bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which of Mr. Rucastle's." "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite observed. Henry Baker is a member." think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second go from here to the Strand." he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very notes," he said. note?" clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood was a perfect sample of the class. bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and quickly through a disagreeable task. whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, "Who was the criminal, then?" He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the be. the salesman. I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved the stones. met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you "By all means." fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I investigation." a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other thought that she would have been so carried away." Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may and that he would see to anything that turned up. homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." "You have a clue?" "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the "How often?" "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. already referred to. lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, the side-table." them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you the nursery. "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can "Then what has happened to him?" head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. goes." reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest "You are all wrong." I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was