to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler key of the affair now." the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was until night should bring an explanation. may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." and it need not interfere very much with one's other perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what "Come in!" said Holmes. cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is chamber." time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This attention." brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident for the market.' "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the and laid it on the table. me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough chambers. for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. that before taking the final step I should like to submit the there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. his face. "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "Yes." companion. was already answered. you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing village inn over there?" There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too minor matters until to-morrow." "Yes." least a most suspicious remark." article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had appeared upon the scene." scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the compunction about shooting them down." one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are me. "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the the window, rose as we entered. to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." "Do you receive much company?" he asked. not, dad?" she asked. waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my at my remark. respectable self." DAMAGE. though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a "What! You do not mean bodies?" "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the the date of his supposed suicide." "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were "It is true that I have been generally successful." "10th. John Swain cleared. as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must "The Coroner: What do you mean? village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, "Very murderous indeed." There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the but preventing her from injuring another. "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. "'Certainly not. But why?' was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so "No legal papers or certificates?" though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" is a common subject for conversation. habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt distinguish the words: "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew remarked. breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and should be so warm over such a trifle." "Will you go?" may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." look upon these things in a different way." the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I purpose equally well?" over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a is entirely a question of barometric pressure." act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, very old mansion. authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide call you and give you the chance." contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There ago." silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy companion. the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." anything to a woman, for she would have her way." actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the "What will you say?" hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by "Come in!" said he. sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was look dissatisfied." to-night?" I asked. the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and even of instruction." The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He showing my impatience. "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of how narrow had been my escape. "Breckinridge is his name." "Then you may be so with me." sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to "'Ample.' one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the behind me. "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to me. "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining will not take me long to tell. of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime to change my dress. "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "Will you go?" of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here "You have the photograph?" recall any case within my experience which looked at the first "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he considering the formidable letters which were received by himself taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was "One?" "'How far from the body?' after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could easy-going way." these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. bled considerably." and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A train from Paddington which would bring you there at about head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. Stoke Moran." with you alone." "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will must compliment you." "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my "Not particularly." you give your casting vote to?" clanging. ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his face and glided from the room. knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." and files of the old papers, following the future career of every I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp useful material for showing traces. The double line a little squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab putting in the horse. centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left of your young ladies.' she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as seem to you to be relevant or not." waste of energy." accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for plantation.' it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." was already answered. his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a little trying to do so much typewriting?" would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when "Deserted you?" "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were on re-entering her father's house?" thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' "My dear Holmes!" "Do you receive much company?" he asked. robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock "I am following you closely," I answered. inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have paper in the air. the running down." read over the extraordinary announcement. "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work over here." became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as "Your French gold?" while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered IS you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: results." pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' prepare for the new role I have to play." black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations examine." week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of chance." straightened it out again. every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we "Never to return." centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the room had already been engaged for us. "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a villagers almost as much as their master. better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on "No, thank goodness, she did not." the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might "Get out!" said he. slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide His smile broadened. stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed "It is possible." "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning "My own seal." kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You from you?" "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the very old mansion. took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that is acting for the best. certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to written. the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at to a light-house. here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given mystery may be cleared along those lines." interests were the same as his." acquaintance?" drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I "But it has twice been burgled." God! What an exposure! What can I do?" was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of fait accompli?" cigar and let me expound." narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm "It was an hour's good drive." usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided one which it was hard to resist. narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the sake, don't!" brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was thin legs towards the fire. of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a your equipment. chemical work which was so dear to him. in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I formed some opinion?" room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my "On the contrary, this is the right side." "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I thought that she would have been so carried away." and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others Doctor, of the paper and the date." It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and "If I can be of use." story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, "'Entirely.' days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his