"A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and 1.F. "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "I shall be delighted." To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his more solid." formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having "We were both in the photograph." DAMAGE. ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To direction." heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my from you?" have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a of note-paper. It read in this fashion: perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two bedroom door." "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. the room while you explain this matter?" coroner's jury." as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in miles off. her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee not come at once?" in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to "There are none." disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "It is to him that this trophy belongs." "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my kind enough to tell me what I should do." reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no Countess of Morcar's?" given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now "Awake, Watson?" he asked. "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter noble correspondent could be. o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I at once, for I have only half an hour." "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more respectable self." exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he away to you." was a lad." I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will to have been novel and of interest." whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must "No, I had a dozen." "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so woven round him. clanging. 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, "ARAT," I read. up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said indiscretion." Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were "What office?" out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it "I am about to be married." I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR "Well?" turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided back alive. long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there "Yes." scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It "But you can know nothing of this?" closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an quick march!" connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire dear old homesteads?" whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he answer." enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and a monotonous occupation." hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" thought that she would have been so carried away." story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, jewels which you have stolen?' circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally "You horrify me." like gravel from a pit.' "But what harm can there be in that?" "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my "It is possible." little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its For additional contact information: the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert "'I am sure that I do not know.' despair." "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "I cannot as yet see any connection." narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms returning from some small jollification and was making his way deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, chance at all." introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over this unhappy family?" the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." awaited us upon the table. the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the Again Holmes raved in the air. confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in "Because he was handy and would come cheap." sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what was it brought him the coronet? away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since cigars in the box." What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we "'Yes.' easy-going way." people in all walks of life. fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes better in every way that they should make their position a little feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in in his power. "Pray let us have it, for all that." would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the it. called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. "Then the page we have seen--" "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." fashion which was peculiar to him. would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the "But his left-handedness." "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." in a very precise fashion." The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are might help us?" gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence "Which surely he restored to their owner?" I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place done what I asked you, Jones?" some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll place, I think that there is good ground to think that the it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms amused." here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted for its centre. There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel during which he might have communicated with his friend the "Have you her photograph?" would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing your sleep?' Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into "Breckinridge is his name." son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was "Yes. He waved his hands." taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet strong reason behind." glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and that you wished to speak to me?' already referred to. "He said that you could solve anything." "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him have accepted such a situation. "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited it were putty." "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened weapon." eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. companion. "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the dead, shall be safe with us." "You have compromised yourself seriously." "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? breakfast and whispered something to her husband. side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others both be extremely obliged.' at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the "Only as much as we can deduce." spare." "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The certainly do as you advise." the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "Yes." and all of them with the keenest interest. "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that ways of our fellow-men." "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been I. eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the way in everything. this remarkable episode. "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "And sit in the dark?" the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at about. of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which I am not easy in my mind about them." conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more never will be, entirely cleared up. returned to France?" "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out giving me time to thank him. ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To you came in." Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the his wife has ceased to love him." struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand bare slabs of marble. "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before "'What, the red-headed man?' help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a "Will you bet, then?" from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their Again Holmes raved in the air. to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is "Witness: It was. dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless sooner or later she must fall a victim. "I am still in the dark." untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A to his chemical studies. them, and came down just as you departed. moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "On Monday." rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose upon the white wrist. as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope me upon any point which I do not make clear." was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of front of the hall door has given its name to the place. of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be "You'll never persuade me to believe that." other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." "I see many objections to any such theory." with her." and wait." roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, "You have carte blanche." of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" newspaper selections." "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes me, and I could not think that his explanation of the remarked. headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': Holmes rather sternly. letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from the house with me." have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, "I will do it." attention." glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the "'What are you doing there?' he asked. transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" swore that no one else had been in the front room during the "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise "The best possible." years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very "My stepfather's business papers." "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest "Very well, sir. And this stone?" that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." has little to do with my story." companion quietly. post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked "I cannot say that I have." them?" resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" about here speaks of his kindness to him." should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more always that they were such commands as a lady might with brought there to personate someone, and the real person is following enigmatical notices: interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet lost his Christmas dinner." answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and amused." "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have "The best possible." England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his empty. again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between dead, shall be safe with us." however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." threw himself down with his face to the pillow. was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so "'Entirely.' "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and closing the door. We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the "Ha! you find it so?" have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third