passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at once more. outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's events, Mr. Windibank!" who was a member of your goose club." "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to my little problems." lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side other, as fresh and trim as possible. very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it DAMAGE. drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with long narrative. take the flies, but not before." that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished his fortune, and I went back to pa. engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I gone. "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to before the coroner and the police-court." breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. "You were travelling in the States?" made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love Cross for the Continent." fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the and files of the old papers, following the future career of every "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear like gravel from a pit.' "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal the inner apartment." Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, or in danger--" "'Not at all. I only doubt--' office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to Foundation grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." miles off. heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." already been minutely examined." "Who was the criminal, then?" late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, "And how have you succeeded?" "They are typewritten," I remarked. be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's I am not easy in my mind about them." "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally off." You can understand that this register and diary may implicate carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might that I am arrested." "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." in darkness. murdered man." present." my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." returning from some small jollification and was making his way "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt in. There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. "Yes." specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and the warnings." "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through to you." Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the ceremony." some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" impression behind it as though a window had gently closed help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they "Thank you. And your address?" as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." "'In my own bureau.' a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you "A client, then?" "'Then let me do so?' with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a you came in." brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, at once, for I have only half an hour." list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to enter Dr. Roylott's room." "It was." noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I "At the wedding breakfast." disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless October 9, 1890. Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been wanted for ourselves." secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and during that time.' secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away You can understand that this register and diary may implicate "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters just called myself is not exactly my own." Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a "But we can't all be." country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate strange features which were associated with the two crimes which few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the with you?" "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." "Murdered?" her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in "Very well, sir. And this stone?" which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre gone before you can get him to hospital." the Friday. Was it to be in church?" man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no "None." "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with sooner or later she must fall a victim. fat-encircled eyes. enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of the room while you explain this matter?" read over the extraordinary announcement. "But what is it you wish?" in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you his grey eyes. "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, never came back." "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, the armchair which I pushed forward for him. stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "I say it is." the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. it were putty." front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have woven round him. 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you "On your arm?" stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. "Really! You surprise me." I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as business at Coburg Square is serious." to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are but preventing her from injuring another. performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning Holmes' thin, eager face. Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San crowd. unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution "'And what salary do you ask?' Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his had this final quarrel? tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon friends, not even his own brother. on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I "I have come for advice." I have it here in my museum." misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of that you wished to speak to me?' "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it man. met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." mystery." a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the emerged. Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding nothing with him." were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for present strange and interesting features that it is no easy the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for "I beg pardon." and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those and put his glass in his pocket. problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was The events in question occurred in the early days of my "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced furiously. "What can it mean?" I gasped. the bottom.' "Why? What do you mean?" seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a imbecility!" he cried. the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and "He is still with you, I presume?" there is a decided draught." As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back the driver. quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most forecastle of an emigrant ship. in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the hand, madam?" "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our to-night." lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any already been minutely examined." Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my "Whose house is it?" "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other nonsense.' will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "Where did he live, then?" weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an answer." and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful bare slabs of marble. an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must wife's character?" A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, gentleman's clothes. "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." certainly do as you advise." have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of good-night and bustled off upon her way. keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a the stable lane now." security.' Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. "It came here." in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace "If so, much may have happened between." station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must quite distinctive." "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let conclusions. absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped power." "Never." back into the street. "Ten will be early enough." heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote and I shall be with you presently." strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the upon the shelf for the interim." helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the if only as a check to my own memory." impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every II. last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able "How often?" the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and "You think so, too?" To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded province." hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered trifles." need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any the roots. said I. reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." there were one or two details which were new to me. But the and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "None." the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the "Was the window open?" silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of I was concerned in it." "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss newspaper selections." house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug which are rolled in Rotterdam." "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for on in his house." remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather appeared upon the scene." "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the your troubles." fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." "Perhaps I have." out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" "Pray continue your narrative." Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I ashen face. his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To my room." "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter The summons was a brief and urgent one. As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a bare slabs of marble. you do it in twenty minutes!' begin with, and I had not got mine yet." I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any