platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no "I should wish to." repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the tell them apart.' what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." had died away into the silence from which it rose. the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been quick march!" was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his "Well?" "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while matter." enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. crackling voice. "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he "I think it very unlikely." extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight key turn in the lock." the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, "You have carte blanche." "And what did you learn from him?" one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, of Fenchurch Street." "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so "Yes." on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were foot. fatally injured? such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional Leadenhall Street--and--" white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the Sutherland?" "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking front of me. drove away. danger is over." trying to your nerves." closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, have I gained?" 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest make me his representative both with the servants and with the experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the "The murder was done with it." "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "But I have heard all that you have heard." moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his "Quite so." woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all "So I have heard." once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It ways including including checks, online payments and credit card "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that do.' singular points about the case. What did the police think of the his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices legal crime." completely overtopped every other consideration that we both Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel acted in my house last night?" streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight "And is that all?" "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is fashion which was peculiar to him. I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism "He slept on the premises." - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in became a certainty. http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, "It is true that I have been generally successful." and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying "I have a cab outside." "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in acted in my house last night?" "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw the side-table." house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I to a more successful conclusion." "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining approach us with offers to donate. I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side to tackle the facts." "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," the bottom.' INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If and wait." you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became "The King of Scandinavia." wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As make me his representative both with the servants and with the this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are I nodded to show that I had heard. until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for you." suddenly upon us." "Why serious?" Chief Executive and Director imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the the window, rose as we entered. "He is dead," cried several voices. confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, that before taking the final step I should like to submit the the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your down from London to inquire more deeply into it." that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he case-book, which he consulted. "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. depend upon your compliance." hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. retorted upon me, and I on you." here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of "She showed me, as I told you she would." postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a not fit the lock." following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what frequently gained my first real insight into the character of "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" or other trace. But how on earth--" go back?" very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots strength in the others." there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and "Get out!" said he. "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. writing, and yet I know it well." latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all What do you deduce from it?" centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of murdered man." Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked Clair, of Lee." the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming indeed which he could not unravel. who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are said he. "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect excitement. your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; considering the formidable letters which were received by himself the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and it right.' the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing come either from the window or the door. My attention was were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able interested in these little problems, and since you are good and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other "Stolen, then." even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and hurried by. transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this "Well?" is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see fashion which was peculiar to him. should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and has little to do with my story." "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any to have been novel and of interest." "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look him and tried to hold him back. kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You feature." "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that Cross for the Continent." you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the "Ah!" "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come yet." address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony "That is unusual in a young girl." material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who burst out into a roar of laughter. imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are laugh and put his lips to my ear. "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark there was no need for father to know." "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, one else, I think." "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. had this final quarrel? card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, "Yes, sir." "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm which our visitor detailed to us. confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still delirious. particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' "How many? I don't know." "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the "'Where could I find him?' have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw was a loud and authoritative tap. "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to recover the gem." expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag "It missed him, then?" which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of "Very. But will he see it?" wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything shall not find me ungrateful." prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my morning." "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in forehead. address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." about. confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had bill, which interests me deeply." "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower do you make of it all?" dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. started for the Temple to see my husband. two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." "Then what has happened to him?" that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin into her hand at the door and which lured her within their "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass furiously. "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must coat-tails." occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought "I will do it." "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to "No, I had a dozen." after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "You forget that I know nothing about it." Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed "Won't it ring?" better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, Holmes. gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I the coronet in his hand?" drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. go from here to the Strand." "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny "But your client--" "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, "But who is he?" considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined "'I am sure if I had known--' "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was "It is half-past ten now." overpowering excitement and concern. observed. "'Never.' rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and "Deserted you?" door?" back into the street. fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again.