smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass "But how could you guess what the motive was?" "Tired-looking or fresh?" lids now and glanced across at his visitor. during the last few years, and there are many noble families to his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as distinguish the words: usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform other lovers by making love himself." And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had you, my dear young lady?' of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? "And why?" "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. "Yes, I have one waiting." repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right in his power. hard-headed British jury." pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could writing, and yet I know it well." "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, "By no means." the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside "Yes, there are nearly always some there." very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in "'Tell me all about it,' said I. you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you "You know me, then?" "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. a very grave face. play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of a little more before I quite committed myself. years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as at once, for I have only half an hour." "At what time?" "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature "I cannot imagine." arrangements." a suggestive one." landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring be best to do. "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been "And it is--" "Yes, the wine-cellar." as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally introspective fashion. that I can to serve you." "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger hard-headed British jury." to me. puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "I think that it is very probable." tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to over part of the map. "What do you read?" so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "Where did he live, then?" Sutherland. "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the and wait." look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's "But what will you do?" have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced was feeling which was the fattest.' analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was "You have but to name it." nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can envelope. figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was brain must have something in it." which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your least a fellow-countryman. "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and "Nothing." conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would of Mr. Rucastle's." waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been helping a boy to put up the shutters. long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It "One?" "Why, what do you mean?" What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the to go into your room and bar your shutters?" occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE troubles have been weighing upon his mind. you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a yards of it?' "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek asked. "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about crowd. about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant to surprise her." she has been waylaid. There has been no result." wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who "I cannot tell." "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like them?" Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was "A client, then?" very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly is entirely a question of barometric pressure." coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding "No, I think that I'll take it." promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the details." have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may "How did you trace it, then?" jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in some place of shelter and let the county police know what has "Yes, sir." beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said is four-and-twenty." chair. considering the formidable letters which were received by himself kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You "At half-wages, in fact." accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "Get out!" said he. The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us seen the man in the road." been shamefully used." he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most everything which you would wish to know." should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country never came back." "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by questioning and rather startled gaze. should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came mysterious end." is four-and-twenty." who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would "Nothing?" http://www.gutenberg.net good-night and bustled off upon her way. about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. Literary Archive Foundation promised to bring home. an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' details." exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and his wife has ceased to love him." "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose "What, then?" we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." been able to understand it, in a very few words. gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He is worth.' Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, orange pips. say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't there." "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are "It came here." chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed "Precisely so. But how--" "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to bill, which interests me deeply." "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at man. I know him from the photograph." must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then matter over." presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he my former friend and companion. law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," Sholtos." soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." you." feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to "And help." would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No "Ten will be early enough." air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR taking in every detail of the apartment. "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" power." and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just some place of shelter and let the county police know what has "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the carried out of court." next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards simple cases which are so extremely difficult." was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To means taking possession of that which another person has a prior at my own good fortune. breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat is entirely a question of barometric pressure." he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A said he, "my real name is James Ryder." another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds once more to my work. the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, crowd. International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" straighten it?" on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. question," said Holmes, smiling. wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even of this gang." pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, "Certainly." There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. I shall communicate with you." pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble "I cannot think." In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he that the gas is not laid on in his house?" "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have peculiar to him. "And how did he make his money?" "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, begun to whiten, even as mine has." manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that of it with the greatest attention. sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. him nearly every evening." whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and lectures into a series of tales." "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know "'I am sure that I do not know.' can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and narrative." may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be back into the street. gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know "'Very good.' I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism delirious. though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my to a light-house. in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the burst into a hearty fit of laughter. together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start locked." "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel clang of the bell. "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than possible that we could bring him back to her? reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of "Pray let us have it, for all that." "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to might help us?" yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a But Holmes shook his head gravely. vague figure huddled up in the darkness. the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself "'As governess?' spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, down. "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' such person." contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a most interesting one." It may be so in this case, also." easy-going way." is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with lost nothing by them." the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned province." "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps joking. Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that see me here to avoid scandal." play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he the bed, and you in that chair." use an arc-and-compass breastpin." the house with me." the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist telegram would bring me down to your help." "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, be sorry for having acted so harshly." pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to gives a meaning to it." the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal "'And what salary do you ask?' this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said in a very precise fashion." "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both "Nothing." uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred closing the door. superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; chamber." permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low important." whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen "No. What a strange idea!" since then to throw any light upon what became of him." was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "The rest you will leave in our hands." "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the "Certainly."