entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he the morning and make my own way in the world.' showing my impatience. "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking way in everything. "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his whatever might befall. door?" hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic hopeless attempt at recovering them." Watson," he said cordially. of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. His name is Francis Prosper." night.' said he. the salesman. the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed "He might." "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several I nodded to show that I had heard. what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired stepfather?" that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the that?' opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is "And when will you call?" was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny all that?" Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said in my life." "Proceed, then." possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for minor matters until to-morrow." the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing III. remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, really the only notable feature about the thing." with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in "I think it very unlikely." in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole matter." ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear "But his lameness?" "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your "Yes, the wine-cellar." dates and names. you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "And that is--" "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the "Whose house is it?" door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of sit on the left-hand side of the driver." finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss papers diligently of late, have you not?" finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My "You think so, too?" clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' just ask you whether you had heard it.' The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we seen the man in the road." my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an "Yes?" to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A hand, madam?" travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, "Precisely." "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' families. Now for the facts. down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom singular points about the case. What did the police think of the houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, that he has suffered." completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable McCarthy." we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "And the murderer?" son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the all-comprehensive glances. sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with "Yes, but only for you and me." friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down "I was certainly surprised to find you there." security.' down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried article?" "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet even of instruction." you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian "Have you it here?" road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been meanly of me." Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the "Why did you beat the pavement?" didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the said I. explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official "Has he come with you to-night?" a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled from you?" mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining locked." "Well." clang of the bell. increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. putting in the horse. the running down." heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my pity, because in other respects you would really have done very doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I answer." maiden herself was most instructive." rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I galvanised. matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! himself. the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over "But how did you gain them?" "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar whether it answered to the description of any of their skylight. some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" "So I have heard." "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." "VIOLET HUNTER." "But you were on a friendly footing?" left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the handed it to him. possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers quick march!" lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a "No good news?" observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or client, rising. "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in what I may call a really hard day's work." the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The that you can jump it.' this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it money should be paid at once.' "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a "Precisely." "'It is locked up,' I answered. entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If more solid." where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the with some details as to your case." to affect your life." glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the crackling voice. Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door "My photograph." "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' "Yes, I have one waiting." description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" next day. is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise you?" and laid it on the table. wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than "You heard nothing yourself last night?" "We have tried and failed." "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going "The knees of his trousers." "I will, Miss Turner." where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, what I may call a really hard day's work." "I shall most certainly do so." answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and than to us. it? Did I buy the geese off you?" furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. must compliment you." "Perfectly so." Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "'Where could I find him?' character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended have not had my rubber." deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the a monotonous occupation." "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as rose-bushes. when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was "Yes." England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." giving me time to thank him. of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies to that open window." about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "Were they all fastened this morning?" that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he "Never." invisible to me," I remarked. Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, photograph a cabinet?" could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, will be renamed. grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the of Fenchurch Street." shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the showing my impatience. "What do you make of that, Watson?" "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution business at Coburg Square is serious." "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you questioning and rather startled gaze. confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a "What is it?" "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single formed some opinion?" "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always the coronet at all injured?" two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible we went to search for him, face downward in a little seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that disappearance of the bride.'" investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at the address that was given us in the advertisement. Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you detective. 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying have one." were new raised from a basin. point in the dark hollow of his hand. her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a his face which made him a very different person to the round, set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get fear." upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and "How are you getting on?" may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" him, that man would not have given me such complete information it? Did I buy the geese off you?" said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution "What then?" slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found "No legal papers or certificates?" aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My "Not I." "That is easily got." enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when to have been novel and of interest." "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and "Not social, then?" The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, the Red-headed League." remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but of the one which your family is now devouring." habit of advancing money.' company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who "You forget that I know nothing about it." paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps one of them." and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He Heh?' "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any it were putty." "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. recall any case within my experience which looked at the first very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All "It is very clear." he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your