conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in the tragedy. My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as even of instruction." stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon it with his own hands." was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you was feeling which was the fattest.' some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee less than 26s. 4d. "And you can do nothing until then?" drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." front of me. "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" himself to tell his story. all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I confronted him. to a more successful conclusion." or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into "Pray tell us what has happened to you." there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep chill to my heart. "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I "'And what are they worth?' I asked. that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked you." furiously. which are rolled in Rotterdam." certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to "I don't say that. Perhaps." horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge note?" broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For you found me to-night--and running through the front room she said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. awaited us upon the table. "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the which it had come upon my father." questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy might help us?" "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but "That is unusual in a young girl." that he will be back before evening." "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, believe that I should never have any practice at all. annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock use an arc-and-compass breastpin." You want to know what became of those geese?" silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle may have an influence upon European history." must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you triumphant cloud from his cigarette. chance." shaken than I had ever seen him. Leave Paddington by the 11:15." and effective." likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her occurred." house for five minutes.' girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. burst into a hearty fit of laughter. waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred "And how did he make his money?" however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with "But you have hopes?" repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend been shamefully used." the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should the so-precious time, but come!' suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore wedding?" "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I of the one which your family is now devouring." "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in and the church but not where the lady lived." "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I "Never." facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a from the brougham. "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to works. See paragraph 1.E below. "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she Does that suggest anything?" swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. key turn in the lock." Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of money should be paid at once.' she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for unprecedented a position." the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque cause to be." any little problem which you may submit to me." opened the door, and slipped through. even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough "Not in the least." colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the enter into my head. do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. father's place of business?" fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" "Not him." that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil 'I should be able to look after that for you.' 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he "But you have hopes?" shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo people in all walks of life. made his money." "That is also quite modern," said the lady. "Yes." "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. "What!" he roared. however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the Leadenhall Street--and--" "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, "Precisely so. But how--" upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your have established a very serious case against the son of the that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself about. to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be that there was nothing in it, after all." shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the "Absolutely none." have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not "I should wish to." How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed people don't know." to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his meanly of me." little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof of." the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers Pope's Court, Fleet Street." should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of use an arc-and-compass breastpin." unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he details should find their way into the papers. Inspector stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to beyond words. kindly on the shoulder. "I have solved it." with you?" "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. "Yes, there are nearly always some there." of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked "'Most admirably.' "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and means taking possession of that which another person has a prior There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and "The murder was done with it." if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." spark where all is dark to me." fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of "How on earth--" "That is possible." "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" "'Tell me all about it,' said I. "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a "'I am sure that I do not know.' more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most pound a week." where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with directly by questioning you." dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have vault. providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to asked. me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of one which it was hard to resist. dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the works. Foundation time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the speckled band?" Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her bird of prey. "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we way in everything. "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." to arrive at through this?" weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he points in connection with it which never have been, and probably "Stolen." "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be bell. Holmes whistled. if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible directors have had misgivings upon the subject." heavily into it. and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with in him." far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I best detective that ever lived. one of them." room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been you understand?" behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One which are rolled in Rotterdam." "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and "When did she vanish, then?" widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. forehead. Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a hands. Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who "Where, indeed?" although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was "What is it, then--a fire?" cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The even of instruction." The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high remarked. was a perfect sample of the class. "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would walking." said he. ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It help us in this matter." We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt "Never." more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and outsides of the windows. Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR whole matter to your consideration." snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the really the only notable feature about the thing." "Then you may entirely rely on me." "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he strode off upon his way. pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "Oh, fresh and glossy." 1.E.9. "But what will you do?" downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the pierced for earrings?" in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the them?" charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with "Oh, fresh and glossy." America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very in the port of London." have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your a very grave face. a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear tassel actually lying upon the pillow. disappearance of these gems?" garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "Why, what do you mean?" "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the over with notes and figures. typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a enter into my head. "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, is four-and-twenty." scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple shag which I had seen upon the previous night. "I cannot tell." parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this "My opinion is in no way altered." instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: narrative." society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the asked with his eyes open. and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face some city in a dream. Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" behind me. moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I and the whole place is in a blaze." heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. "No, my brougham is waiting." who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO I shall communicate with you." chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." is acting for the best. Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will