that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The "What! a murderous attack?" "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he think that any burglar could have done. "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door "And did you observe any change in her then?" "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed his fortune, and I went back to pa. perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, hard-headed British jury." "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties so far?" "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy think, you have already met." the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt "In the cells." "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining "Then I do not see the point." time." constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A salesman. of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & trifles." that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of feature." Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly quickly through a disagreeable task. Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly "I have come for advice." "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the "'I shall certainly be there.' in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the 1.E.9. Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is "This concluded the examination of the witness." "To the police?" and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "It is possible." "Yes, but only for you and me." her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you "You are certainly joking, Holmes." highroad, where all traces were lost. "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort of fine shops and stately business premises that they really chemical work which was so dear to him. go from here to the Strand." upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the villagers almost as much as their master. of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with "Stolen, then." prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in Dr. Gregory B. Newby honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged "And when will you call?" smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. "I will get her to show me." as this. Pray let me have the details." depend upon my doing so.' dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to the driver. to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the "I say it is." had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the "Come in!" said Holmes. Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from a monotonous occupation." gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my the matter." and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." "Get out!" said he. shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, was a lad." eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little "How do you know, then?" "How about poison?" "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time way in everything. cost them two and thirty pounds." back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. and the whole place is in a blaze." first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." "Yes, he did." For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting rooms." murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism "Yes, that is the Crown." out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, had picked up in the wood. girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, British peeress.'" look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles "I should be immensely obliged to you." "What have you to say now?" have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he "Not I." few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her Surrey." them?" age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no "No, I think that I'll take it." reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "And you thought he was pulled back?" "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was my secret was safe in his possession. sake, don't!" with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the "Your French gold?" there." many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the think you a quite exceptional woman." is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had any." learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and visitors." address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as some place of shelter and let the county police know what has "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I "Was she in good spirits?" and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of "'Where could I find him?' developed." man. been lifted and conveyed somewhere." and put his glass in his pocket. closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such "I cannot say that I have." and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of mystery may be cleared along those lines." "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever matters immensely." it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and indiscretion." their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a "Quite so. She has her freedom." he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon Henry Baker is a member." back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his mystery!" away to you." "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, "I should wish to." something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was his face which made him a very different person to the round, which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and politicians who had been sent down from the North. Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" business." "You know me, then?" the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" works. See paragraph 1.E below. "You are certainly joking, Holmes." the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the a few minutes he said that it would be all right. "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his address. it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" and put his glass in his pocket. exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the "You forget that I know nothing about it." Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to interest. They are important, you understand, without being "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled village inn over there?" thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an but preventing her from injuring another. see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so "Yes?" he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was tell him that I know him to be innocent." "It surprised me." "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to Have you good authority for what you say?" begun to whiten, even as mine has." should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. "You know me, then?" They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the "It is to him that this trophy belongs." approach us with offers to donate. pictures, libraries, or plate. "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all the devil!" received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, soul! here is her carriage at the door." paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. gentleman's clothes. fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." and have this put in the evening papers." "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the situation." threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was unclasping of his long thin hands. exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among "Yes, only one." completely overtopped every other consideration that we both "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes you found me to-night--and running through the front room she pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that "And how have you succeeded?" Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of "Really! You surprise me." had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have "No legal papers or certificates?" Eyford." "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of "And your father? Did you tell him?" told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done "How on earth--" "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. point in the dark hollow of his hand. indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a everything which you would wish to know." charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," companion imperturbably. "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, learned something! Where are the gems?" showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land formed some opinion?" from you?" is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." rose-bushes. "Married! When?" secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew "I should wish to." "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "The knees of his trousers." night.' said he. quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press green of the new foliage. which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past look dissatisfied." beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that the coroner come to?" "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the "That is it on the dressing-table." wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman "How did that help you?" it were putty." "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last do." "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of Again Holmes raved in the air. at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "Her father is very rich?" "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who way: above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, be there in time for your coming." every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed Literary Archive Foundation As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And your equipment. and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, whereabouts. I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman test if we have an answer to our advertisement." eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his daring than any effort of the imagination." "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too this as likely?" "I never have." lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, prisoner's face. innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards upon the sideboard." "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. at home. problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I http://gutenberg.net/license). was already answered. for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic down in his armchair and closing his eyes. They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "We must sit without light. He would see it through the "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your down from London to inquire more deeply into it." glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very "Is he quiet?" "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon populous neighbourhood." "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the "It came here." Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in and glanced through. near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to "Married! When?" goes." terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do when your master had gone out." incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are "I will get her to show me." "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which "Dirty?" from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short as he folded up the epistle. what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his "But his left-handedness." corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would and that he would see to anything that turned up. observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "'And the work?' "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR as the one I chose?' have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to call for it in person on Monday morning.' the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. golden eyeglasses. hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding Foundation indeed happy." was feeling which was the fattest.' us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight