"I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she Pool. disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project "So it appears." family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that "In heaven's name, what for?" Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of Gutenberg-tm License. ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by it." workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you for and were ordered to this address. vault. on in his house." threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed "It is very kind of you." the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an McCarthy." "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is girl said." least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the maiden herself was most instructive." very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. DISSOLVED. bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it "But how?" other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at "We have tried and failed." Sutherland?" "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off retorted upon me, and I on you." "Indeed! Whose, then?" perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." public press." parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for the morning and make my own way in the world.' interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven she has been waylaid. There has been no result." was shining brightly. "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the that there was nothing in it, after all." "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, "By all means." "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by that you saw all that I did." I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, "Oh, the cause is excellent!" "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our voice, changing her seat as requested. were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see have an American origin." "No, I think that I'll take it." just called myself is not exactly my own." is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander "Will you bet, then?" upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and strength." Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "Married! When?" servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who chance." unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the "I cannot say that I have." from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the "Was he the only applicant?" "I warn you that they are very incomplete." with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you like gravel from a pit.' of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom fluttered off among the others. long narrative. together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "You were travelling in the States?" was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. people don't know." Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of suspect him." here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of him. "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought "Not in the least." clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. tell them apart.' "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," "Come in!" said Holmes. you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." completely overtopped every other consideration that we both "And now?" He raised his hand. Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is The police have openly confessed that they can at present make reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out easy-going way." lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found and glanced through. We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. "No bad?" residence of the great financier. having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." was used.' strode off upon his way. attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "'And the work?' "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless placed his cuttings. discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out such attractions and accomplishments?' job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, fear." admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his outside." I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. "Yes." shag which I had seen upon the previous night. writers could invent nothing more crude." cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she "You will not go there first?" brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send "Of what day?" in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish down in his armchair and closing his eyes. the armchair which I pushed forward for him. his forehead." Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I "ARAT," I read. "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that he bowed and left the room without another word. have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" gigantic client. with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the "Always." was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair unkempt, staring out at me. perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes signal between you and your father? until night should bring an explanation. routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "But it has twice been burgled." "He might." "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had jewels which you have stolen?' furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I was a loud and authoritative tap. "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and "Where did you address your letters, then?" many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. Miss Holder?" sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to in my life." her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent in him." Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in to where he stood hid behind the curtain. I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever "Seven!" I answered. soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my dramatic, in fact." for its centre. my secret was safe in his possession. "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a remarked. "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes "I am about to be married." "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to "Yes, only one." "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "How often?" assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than business." vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that "You horrify me." Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. "Deserted you?" "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. to take care of herself." is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the go from here to the Strand." dramatic, in fact." and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the "Was he the only applicant?" commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his invisible to me," I remarked. they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other definite end. violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, have established a very serious case against the son of the are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I James Windibank. Voilà tout!" professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "Certainly, madam." Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so bird of prey. thin, with a long, sharp nose?" "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple crackling voice. 1.F. violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, little adventures." his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two could gather together that I was able to avert another public experiences." insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "You know me, then?" bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the IS very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, "Your French gold?" usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that but preventing her from injuring another. also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my "Because he was handy and would come cheap." hard-headed British jury." dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking burst out into a roar of laughter. Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As "'Yes, sir.' "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which what I may call a really hard day's work." more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the "And how have you succeeded?" "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" "Eh? What was that?" "I warn you that they are very incomplete." or in danger--" was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. the child." will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on matters immensely." there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was paper in the air. authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital digesting their breakfasts at home." house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this remarked. Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in least a most suspicious remark." theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this presume?" knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he