"It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his reach." to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. prison!" as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but "Thank you. And your address?" recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a "Ample." from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in three of the beryls in it, was missing. triumphant cloud from his cigarette. infinite languor in his face. disappearance of the bride.'" persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who off." "I fear not." "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate distance from the station, and there we found the young lady to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his and effective." Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." and a shock of very red hair. heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and the bed, and you in that chair." certainly not very gracious." are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to gone before you can get him to hospital." strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that everything which you would wish to know." desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece to a light-house. brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the will find little credit to be gained out of this case." very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." held up the lantern and gazed about him. "No good news?" where we are going." interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one DAMAGE. the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms your billet.' without a word or a look. grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had "None." "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner made him keep the appointment." "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation "How can you tell that?" the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion recover the gem." comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." "My photograph." or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed gone before you can get him to hospital." might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, then?" "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming done what I asked you, Jones?" most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage "So I heard. You have him here?" easy-going way." of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been bearing upon the case." the armchair which I pushed forward for him. "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over character. acquaintance?" once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in delirious. my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. or in danger--" in my life." excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him "To an English lawyer named Norton." earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can "How can you tell that?" "Thank you. And your address?" "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention second." blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable of a light. mysterious business." the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his "Yesterday." "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial some place of shelter and let the county police know what has "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will lost his Christmas dinner." all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No note?" It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the think, you have already met." that, and I came down." could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly I approached. "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in "Could he throw no light?" "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his she used." was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every "When did it break out?" methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not cup of tea. girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here entirely lost his self-respect." into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery "Ah!" my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am to me. the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret even of instruction." cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "Texas, I think." about. from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he "Which surely he restored to their owner?" gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we the running down." power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had "No, I am descending." point in the dark hollow of his hand. and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good from you?" to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the conversation I have gathered that they have been married about which it had come upon my father." time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to to some other building. while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. compunction about shooting them down." which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning second." me upon any point which I do not make clear." not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him wedding?" impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is "No." "That is not always so easy." circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the "Come in!" said he. his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of too. brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, ourselves in the office." twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late looking up at the numbers of the houses." "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! your room." cup of tea. true." ill-usage at the hands of fortune. was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his should be taken.' "'Not at all. I only doubt--' "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course conversation I have gathered that they have been married about seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it "It is possible." way in everything. would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" said he. we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK dramatic, in fact." and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down some terrible trap for her." "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a "I beg pardon." vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in golden eyeglasses. the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our "It is possible." "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the "Precisely so. But how--" absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him once more for Briony Lodge. wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I Leave Paddington by the 11:15." "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a furiously. that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the the bed, and you in that chair." plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR "Has he come with you to-night?" destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a "'What are you doing there?' he asked. Sutherland?" slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door Again Holmes raved in the air. "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any overpowering excitement and concern. Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards congratulate you again." it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the helping a boy to put up the shutters. "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one "What I expected to see." each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return certainly do as you advise." business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was the date of his supposed suicide." hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless question. business?" the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a appeal." 'please.'" sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this "'Which dealer's?' he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the tail." was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come this remarkable episode. to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where easy-going way." at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable "That also I could fathom." during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few "But how?" appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of and have this put in the evening papers." to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the power." "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly enough to aid us in our search." it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from are, I think, all that we need."