through." Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." upon a handsome competence. clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the "It is true that I have been generally successful." "What then?" would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the fuss that is made over them." you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a you, my dear young lady?' inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable "Yes." perplexity from it to my illustrious client. "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. touch that coronet?' When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end "How did you trace it, then?" would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable breakfast." just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of "The vanishing of the lady." you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general where Mr. Fordham shows you.' even so self-evident a thing as that." "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife developed." owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." in the dead of the night?' "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We had picked up in the wood. awaited us upon the table. returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for the Friday. Was it to be in church?" foot. cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips which are rolled in Rotterdam." "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the entirely lost his self-respect." nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons respectable self." You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the "No." over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said to me. to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of the night.' would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of could gather together that I was able to avert another public another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, could gather together that I was able to avert another public often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you Again Holmes raved in the air. daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. I took the paper from him and read as follows: adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe "'I shall certainly be there.' "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a done what I asked you, Jones?" prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the in a very precise fashion." deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some him to go away.' thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast "You forget that I know nothing about it." sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with think that he is innocent?" police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to the Red-headed League." his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. dates and names. "And I." open." "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." learned something! Where are the gems?" slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much an introduction to him?" "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." husband's writing, madam." had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a "It goes to the housekeeper's room." felt?" and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she not within a twentieth part of the market price." not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found before the coroner and the police-court." Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among within hail.' "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to the salesman. "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging "The decline of his fortunes, then?" "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. outsides of the windows. "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal shall use the carriage to-night." Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called and have this put in the evening papers." back alive. trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and your own bird, so if you wish--" done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray "You were travelling in the States?" overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view the one as in the other." kind enough to tell me what I should do." moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her "On your arm?" that, and I came down." something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the could go. waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, "'What would be the hours?' I asked. toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I "She will not sell." "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." hardly wander." "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." walking." "It is very kind of you." before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his "And how?" the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a the Assizes." phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press III. waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch me. You must get home instantly and act." "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," "Pray let us have it, for all that." "'Quite sure, dad.' way: drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell name is different." Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the "But the mystery?" 1.F. X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR noise which awoke you from your sleep?" "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the annoyance, but no jest. quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my him and tried to hold him back. keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save "But you have hopes?" seen the man in the road." shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of been deceived." police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what "By all means." have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting think that any burglar could have done. uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup was used.' Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here perplexity from it to my illustrious client. "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a me what he had done with the three missing stones. Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing my former friend and companion. When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the your troubles." these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter fled together." "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before must be when I saw the door open.' then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no what these perils are?" and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the had formerly been in part my own. the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though "Ah, but I was recommended to you." Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a "Yes, but only for you and me." "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well "You know me, then?" Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do Pool. or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had he died? sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what place no limit on the sum I may draw." when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing gigantic client. "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such something of him before." "And the murderer?" enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle "What is it?" disturbance in my wife." he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the father's place of business?" see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this for its centre. very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." the roots. and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until "Was there a secret marriage?" "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had John Swain, of St. Augustine. gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same all?" "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit "I think that I had better go, Holmes." present." "We must sit without light. He would see it through the "On Monday." on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not "No. What a strange idea!" Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had laugh and put his lips to my ear. of them has the shutters up.' fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have "Then how many are there?" "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the other lovers by making love himself." livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate she slowly sank and died without having recovered her Clair, of Lee." the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this fuss that is made over them." "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "This concluded the examination of the witness." license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If of." save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, has little to do with my story." "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door But Holmes shook his head gravely. and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster "The King of Scandinavia." deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me "It is possible." I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped "I came to find a friend." Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my said he, "my real name is James Ryder." with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how him. any." practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" it were putty." should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the new duties?' as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been you want, then?' "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the whatever might befall. usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, "But how will you look?" and all of them with the keenest interest. "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. "'And what are they worth?' I asked. long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "Indeed! Whose, then?" "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought "Yes." I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, "You forget that I know nothing about it." that I may have something better before very many minutes are The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very Sutherland?" "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." "The knees of his trousers." January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my "How long did she speak to this Alice?" tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at "But his lameness?" his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been clanging. off." and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was Holmes' face clouded over. "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face.