petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, advice." "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a "And that is--" erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project "I am armed." down from London to inquire more deeply into it." it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one is," said he presently: combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more detective. professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included infinite languor in his face. impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and writer." whole matter to your consideration." he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "I cannot tell." knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "You were travelling in the States?" "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. some water from a caraffe. used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of introspective fashion. "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man had a long day." "Yes, all." "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little I shall continue with my miserable story. his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black where Mr. Fordham shows you.' glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled "Where, then, is my wife?" Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I "I have come for advice." all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said "'What would be the hours?' I asked. "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's "On the contrary, this is the right side." parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full "My last client of the sort was a king." "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." read it out to me." in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that to some other building. outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous The police have openly confessed that they can at present make I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen but preventing her from injuring another. it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent of it with the greatest attention. of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and them?" with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had investigation." rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open "A client, then?" upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. infinite languor in his face. "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said disappearance of the bride.'" that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before call for protection in the marriage market, for the present "The rest you will leave in our hands." from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, said I. "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my was it brought him the coronet? in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you business matters.' extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece minor matters until to-morrow." "Well." "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he not interfere, come what may. You understand?" ventilator." bird of prey. to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the that before taking the final step I should like to submit the fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we stalked out of the room. reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up "No more words. Get out!" keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper "But you have hopes?" "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, but preventing her from injuring another. your equipment. the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered "It was an hour's good drive." very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself generous with you in money matters.' simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post followed. then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he "Proceed, then." "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. "So I am. Very much so." asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible in his power. "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The come either from the window or the door. My attention was fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just three fields round his house, and there he would take his From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at him nearly every evening." association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, feature." helping a boy to put up the shutters. appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of business matters.' my little problems." "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. "Where, then, is my wife?" he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done or other trace. But how on earth--" at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My individual and becomes the badge of a society." business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and "You have compromised yourself seriously." a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." happened." a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his cigars in the box." light and attacked it." (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like affection." which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of before, for it was considerably after midnight. such person." habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. "'Yes, sir.' along the entire front of the house, with three long windows And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in you came in." go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his security.' hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" relief. case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and "Where is it, then?" neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "'In my own bureau.' me have 200 pounds?' married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate happened." said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** "But how could you guess what the motive was?" line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. "No, distinctly professional." the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." really the only notable feature about the thing." indeed happy." self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it "Yesterday." him to go away.' social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the "Your presence might be invaluable." estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his This is what he says: companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out yourselves in at night?" is a common subject for conversation. "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern "I am to be neutral?" Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon "It looks newer than the other things?" For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the them present such singular features as the strange train of hands. the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and my secret was safe in his possession. son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and "Married! When?" dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the matter over." when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" see a sister of mine apply for." Mrs. Toller serenely. engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a "It is possible." said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in spare." "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on him!" part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. nice household for a young lady." appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "So I heard. You have him here?" "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass any more." She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows McCarthy." "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated photograph a cabinet?" my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was have established a very serious case against the son of the "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a head. So long, then!" hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. them?" have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project best detective that ever lived. that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I such person." "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. "Very much so." "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and "'Yes.' "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his crowd. misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two "I was certainly surprised to find you there." "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already "I was afraid that you were engaged." "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't of the vacancies.' Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar fattened it expressly for you.' although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to look upon these things in a different way." save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of "To ruin me." "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "Just look it up, then." here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the have got?" See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and good-night and bustled off upon her way. many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "You don't mind breaking the law?" "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I villagers almost as much as their master. "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased "Where did he live, then?" Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this chair. "To ruin me." refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and any little problem which you may submit to me." jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his do.' "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable "Your presence might be invaluable." "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard friend's singular character. farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "That is it on the dressing-table." wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. yourselves in at night?" my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to