and put his glass in his pocket. estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an and effective." am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." Clair, of Lee." with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you empty. "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with "I cannot imagine." it." Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the "It goes to the housekeeper's room." listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he strength in the others." "A call for help, you thought?" state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and and no precautions can guard against." "Of what?" she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to "On Monday." "How about poison?" the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most "I see no marks." one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than weighed down with some great anxiety. crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the she slowly sank and died without having recovered her let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the "From his hat?" behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of was it brought him the coronet? but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when public press." few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when "He disappeared so suddenly." whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had "Your sister is dead, then?" on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the the stones. between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found digesting their breakfasts at home." for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination straighten it?" "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works washing it down with a long draught of water. obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this "I have seen the police." gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and tail." broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the me what he had done with the three missing stones. smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional "'A dozen yards or so.' France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a presume?" is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you "But his lameness?" "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "Never to return." "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and present." "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would "Was your sister dressed?" unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your sneer upon his pale face. "But the mystery?" the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with purpose of examination. had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after "You think so, too?" the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "You are hungry," I remarked. wall." of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." "Where, indeed?" to have that photograph." "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, "I was sure that I might rely on you." This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what "'You doubt its value?' he asked. and the church but not where the lady lived." little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew on in his house." "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the matter." handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with "But he might be a bachelor." skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." as this. Pray let me have the details." at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent again before evening." I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after carriage. It was a chestnut." Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that everything which you would wish to know." "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave "My last client of the sort was a king." bears upon the case?" "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that "That is unusual in a young girl." may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his upon the shelf for the interim." credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too quick march!" "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a and put his glass in his pocket. impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The the devil!" editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to "Perhaps I have." of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a "I will try. What is it?" "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with presented more singular features than that which was associated and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see himself to hunt down. her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year the very letters. But what is this written above them?' "I never have." bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than corner of the building. Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking Stoke Moran." state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the "VIOLET HUNTER." hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner Watson," he said cordially. upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love "He disappeared so suddenly." has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such other, as fresh and trim as possible. very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two to change my dress. The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his in my life." "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it shadow pass over his face as I spoke. applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR "And you don't know his address?" in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock see me here to avoid scandal." hurried away. this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a "I was mad--insane." disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns both be extremely obliged.' "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a someone who had been in Australia." the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. useful material for showing traces. The double line a little "What have you to say now?" "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very little trying to do so much typewriting?" case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my photograph a cabinet?" only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little light and attacked it." black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my place no limit on the sum I may draw." forehead. ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had sake, don't!" he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. "None." asked. she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at "No more words. Get out!" "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." miles off. 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" tied." have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you the station." America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised unclasping of his long thin hands. find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, name is different." business matters.' of your young ladies.' thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, charged with?" spare." out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" to have been novel and of interest." it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the to have been novel and of interest." sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the direction." was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in "Then the page we have seen--" "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which distance from the station, and there we found the young lady name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt read it out to me." corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon the coroner come to?" most interesting one." any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. been with you?" of Fenchurch Street." spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." "I should be immensely obliged to you." low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age new duties?' What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an "None. Neville wrote those words." itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was bearing upon the case." grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you trying to your nerves." contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' "I cannot as yet see any connection." through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a occurred." layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the waste of energy." His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father business in the City. She little knew what. and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every my former friend and companion. "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the the so-precious time, but come!' pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's points to suicide?" your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has the ceiling. Mrs. Toller serenely. lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the from the brougham. among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." you came in." you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we "One of his hands." "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my crackling voice. for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, "I am armed." should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of his forehead." very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be is so. I know all about McCarthy." "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business as he folded up the epistle. have established a very serious case against the son of the lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its "But what will you do?" "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE that there was nothing in it, after all." "That you are never beaten." "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of "What! a murderous attack?" the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police read over the extraordinary announcement. "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable "What, then, did Peterson do?" This is what he says: minor matters until to-morrow." "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say hair?' absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that asked. through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the "In the cells." pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing "But we can't all be." "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned