of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A handed it to him. knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I learned something! Where are the gems?" and the church but not where the lady lived." "That is not always so easy." several quiet little villages up there." Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat "Her father is very rich?" drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my enough to aid us in our search." slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most examination of the premises, but without finding anything which and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled she slowly sank and died without having recovered her submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven intrusion of other matters." tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should ordinary clothes on?" our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a she has been waylaid. There has been no result." retorted upon me, and I on you." "What, then, did Peterson do?" years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." "Stolen, then." We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the several quiet little villages up there." "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest "But I have heard all that you have heard." "Do you go out much in society?" his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was writing, and yet I know it well." didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" clang of the bell. that?' was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through absolutely follow my advice in every respect." "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when "How can you tell that?" "My Mary? Impossible!" thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time him!" minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with not as remarkable as your advertisement." 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he not interfere, come what may. You understand?" during which he might have communicated with his friend the "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, over with notes and figures. process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number "What then?" there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" "My Mary? Impossible!" in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring it." but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his "It is no ordinary one." and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the there were one or two details which were new to me. But the the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl "Will you bet, then?" "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United guilty parties." "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian James Windibank. Voilà tout!" points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his "I cannot tell." "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about you." mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists "Never." his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which and a shock of very red hair. "Your French gold?" some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of business." "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. Leadenhall Street--and--" it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor instituted." of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a "To ruin me." drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. "Who by?" Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest little adventures." "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and tapping his fingers upon the table. my friend's incisive reasoning. prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the advice." directors have had misgivings upon the subject." o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him "But the mystery?" "'Which dealer's?' up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my "No bad?" paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his "You have compromised yourself seriously." "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best to go into your room and bar your shutters?" all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered your own bird, so if you wish--" this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan three fields round his house, and there he would take his then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. information in his hands the value of which he did not himself be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. eavesdroppers?' fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a "'Most admirably.' that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was written, and locked the door of the office after me. "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they go from here to the Strand." the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place knowledge of the world." means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch "Did your wife hear all this?" the little opening for the ventilator is." himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases "We must sit without light. He would see it through the I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a with you?" kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb "And you thought he was pulled back?" Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them burst into a hearty fit of laughter. of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to here and I will read it to you: "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her horse could go." person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the it? Did I buy the geese off you?" Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but "Did he not advertise?" the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "On Monday." importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting was once confined in the cab my mission was practically morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to I held the little printed slip to the light. with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his galvanised. of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to envelope. years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the "I should be immensely obliged to you." daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." prove to be little relation between the different incidents of "'Where could I find him?' lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions "What?" bearing upon the case." father's place of business?" But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove hopeless attempt at recovering them." of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want intrusion of other matters." works. See paragraph 1.E below. "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the important." you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned and that he would see to anything that turned up. the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I have been better. It is all right." a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to "Not him." than was visible to me." "I promise," said Holmes. Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even "Why did you beat the pavement?" last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should "The knees of his trousers." among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they tension within him. "That is unusual in a young girl." ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just bedroom door." suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day bird I ate is country bred." were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my must compliment you." "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said man. them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon the nursery. "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you other lovers by making love himself." streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or "Proceed, then." Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence conduct the inquiry." "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the became a certainty. apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, results." "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three this Miss Turner." "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. guilty one." "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my "On Monday." "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H your equipment. the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, Farm upon the left." "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from me have 200 pounds?' tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." friend's singular character. "Breckinridge is his name." upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the Arthur Conan Doyle certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" round and wave him away like that.' your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "And I to find an enemy." trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "Proceed, then." anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of posted to-day." right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his 1.E.9. "Not social, then?" assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, fire. You quite follow me?" little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted Surrey." every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one "Were they all fastened this morning?" said I. his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes goes." "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, remarked. is," said he presently: "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as without success. At last the little money which I had saved began Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote charge against him will break down." laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight Eyford." was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. peculiar to him. observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "You are hungry," I remarked. conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly the coronet in his hand?" "The King of Scandinavia." from the brougham. observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you