"'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by hereditary King of Bohemia." his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found what I may call a really hard day's work." weary and pale-looking. not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and before, for it was considerably after midnight. frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I ordinary clothes on?" month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was "And you thought he was pulled back?" "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. your room." tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his now. It seems that there had been some informality about their about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and "You have carte blanche." "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I and all of them with the keenest interest. "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking distinguish the words: as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, awaited us upon the table. from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind "Then I do not see the point." any little problem which you may submit to me." James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "On Monday." which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I "Where, then, is my wife?" "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his intimate personal affairs in this public manner." comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions papers must be those that are destroyed.' touch that coronet?' permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most window when the police appeared." Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell some city in a dream. drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. the King without delay." of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a father's young wife. bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had about. I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the guilty one." There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully them, and came down just as you departed. see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to "Yes, at the mines." trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am distinguish the words: "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR on re-entering her father's house?" entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as you understand?" houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly "Just look it up, then." office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, "You are hungry," I remarked. prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if laugh and put his lips to my ear. overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency "How did that help you?" companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has conceal it?" "No." I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his "I will, Miss Turner." jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you "And why?" Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary him. naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. hour?' in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will "I think that I had better go, Holmes." "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a "Thank you. And your address?" analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her the inner apartment." inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, was the fact that his father should, according to his account, something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether "Why did you beat the pavement?" surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in things are very often connected not with the larger but with the smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our "'Never,' said I. arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my present." of it with the greatest attention. not fit the lock." woman." where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George "I answered that I had not. put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "I beg pardon." "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "My dear Holmes!" understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary along the entire front of the house, with three long windows "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, questionable one." in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. fasten all the windows?" "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very "On your arm?" day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in without success. At last the little money which I had saved began "No, I had a dozen." his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean you?" before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, recall any case within my experience which looked at the first LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. Mary, has deserted me." police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "It is his hat." untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both showing my impatience. that I may have something better before very many minutes are "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I back alive. purpose equally well?" What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say "'Which dealer's?' while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their I think that I could be of assistance to you." mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey a room. had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose to affect your life." is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be everything which you would wish to know." until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his voice. unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and information in his hands the value of which he did not himself he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "Very much so." "It is a murder, then?" "I say it is." "The knees of his trousers." and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he again, where I was soon asleep. to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what existence." on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more conduct the inquiry." the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. "How did he come?" "Stoke Moran?" said he. compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, his huge brown hands. did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there during the last few years, and there are many noble families to everything which you would wish to know." realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as him to be an active member of the medical profession." Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project forebodings. "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." you give your casting vote to?" tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we himself to tell his story. side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to silent! Oh, he will be silent!' married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall she used." old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. weapon." "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head "Well, but China?" delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you posted to-day." companion. "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." was shining brightly. what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the States. from the brougham. Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I could gather together that I was able to avert another public "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said "Yes." disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred less than 26s. 4d. "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the do.' that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered for securing the situation." Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them was lame." platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came done what I asked you, Jones?" the ceiling. a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my less than 26s. 4d. were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, points in connection with it which never have been, and probably noise which awoke you from your sleep?" "Deserted you?" should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of had formerly been in part my own. I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. "Yes, he did." part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would "I came to find a friend." I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to "The King of Scandinavia." look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able subject to the trademark license, especially commercial on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of "'How far from the body?' Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was nothing with him." "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a examination of the premises, but without finding anything which saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that "Murdered?" But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my "I cannot imagine." is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." examination of the premises, but without finding anything which Holmes rather sternly. 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think foresight and the moral retrogression?" traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we as the one I chose?' could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third "Nothing?" in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning whereabouts. which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have once more. side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and Serpentine Avenue. self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your had a long day." conduct the inquiry." Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings "Your presence might be invaluable." maid will bring up your coffee." "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If people in all walks of life. sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, "I was sure that I might rely on you." "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium might help us?" for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It business in the City. She little knew what. crowd. a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." is worth.' "I promise," said Holmes. and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I hurried by. for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go away into the river." waste of energy." moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as there were so many in the whole country as were brought together his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is and inquire as to the address." The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very "Entirely." George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but and shall probably return to London by the evening train." she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. "You heard nothing yourself last night?" memory. "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't I was concerned in it." which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began "And Miss Sutherland?" signal between you and your father? "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, said I. should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a tell me that you intended to go into harness." "I cannot tell." "'In my own bureau.' "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if "Oh, the cause is excellent!" searched, without anything being found which could incriminate of the one which your family is now devouring." difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I at a side door. her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner