"Then, how do you know?" would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked acquaintance?" shoulder; "he's all right." bedroom door." occupations.' "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly lids now and glanced across at his visitor. "And how did you verify them?" in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. the coronet at all injured?" Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, strength of mind to control. derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or point our research must commence, and we will begin it by glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes and the colonel ushered me in. which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, putting in the horse. however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I to a more successful conclusion." "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." bedroom door." "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." lamp in his hand. upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink "Then I do not see the point." pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town in the port of London." "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One very old mansion. end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the it." shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered me. You must get home instantly and act." on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more "And you thought he was pulled back?" would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the "The murder was done with it." singular points about the case. What did the police think of the home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she swore that no one else had been in the front room during the "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right "Well." your Highness to the police-station?" have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the late!' leave you to your papers for a little." time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm and that he would see to anything that turned up. drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. tell him that I know him to be innocent." fashion which was peculiar to him. see me here to avoid scandal." home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first row." extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of "Yes, all." We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into "Quite so. She has her freedom." mystery may be cleared along those lines." "And why in hopes?" The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own "What?" yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, "Then the page we have seen--" upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "She will not sell." the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I you came in." "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of society." lumber-room." the stones. "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave placed his cuttings. was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very you in yours." Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for brandy and water within his reach. creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the best detective that ever lived. sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the in. that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away mystery." here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the are windows in it, of course?" encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has geese which you supplied to the Alpha." going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him "'Stolen!' he cried. "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. "Nothing?" Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security hopeless attempt at recovering them." "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it excitement. the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. "He slept on the premises." perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and "Holmes, the busybody!" I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he bill, which interests me deeply." and a shock of very red hair. round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. "'It is locked up,' I answered. "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the of Mr. Rucastle's." chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at "My stepfather's business papers." sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were "The vanishing of the lady." when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody "The Cedars?" ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in point our research must commence, and we will begin it by to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant in him." of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves the stable lane now." however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon leave you to your papers for a little." "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, "Witness: I must still refuse. as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such him to go away.' recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which "Were they all fastened this morning?" "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." the nursery. screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small "And for present expenses?" of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "But he might be a bachelor." slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly salesman. here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon shag which I had seen upon the previous night. Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my "No, distinctly professional." muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of tear off another piece?' tell me that you intended to go into harness." and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and "And that is--" of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such "Yes, I have one waiting." "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may "Won't it ring?" expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some then?" this as likely?" face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last McCarthy." "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an kind enough to tell me what I should do." rose-bushes. gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads I nodded again. "'What are you doing there?' he asked. "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You forebodings. high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" used to be." We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without strode off upon his way. the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given singular points about the case. What did the police think of the drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length "But you have hopes?" see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer "I was afraid that you were engaged." like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR "Bought." in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more way: he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have been shamefully used." "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." "Yes, the wine-cellar." vanished into the darkness. murdered man." with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and "Ah, but I was recommended to you." served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless envelope. companion quietly. which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, off." brought there to personate someone, and the real person is place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "No, thank goodness, she did not." "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your feature." since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a information in his hands the value of which he did not himself thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then bachelor.' I am not easy in my mind about them." facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring or other trace. But how on earth--" every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits late." "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." Does that suggest anything?" previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to signal between you and your father? which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's respectable self." impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting "How many? I don't know." memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the "Here?" Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" over with notes and figures. inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy sake, don't!" brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was direction." "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did "But you have hopes?" "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an quick march!" charge against him will break down." is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several "And how have you succeeded?" pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted something of him before." But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. through." "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I you found me to-night--and running through the front room she "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both then?" play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. said I. moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California that you wished to speak to me?' admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings place, I think that there is good ground to think that the the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a Eyford at 11:15.' in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to point in the dark hollow of his hand. chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and