conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand certainly not very gracious." a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my delirious. taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is "And how in the world did you find them?" have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the "I will get her to show me." "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated signal between you and your father? "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn "Ten will be early enough." impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the it." attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small "No." first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving galvanised. clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came visitors." to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." "I don't say that. Perhaps." some city in a dream. works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of them?" "But what is it you wish?" "Indeed! Whose, then?" "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the and that he would see to anything that turned up. desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in "And your mother is alive?" occurred." at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next James Windibank. Voilà tout!" "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the me have 200 pounds?' nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." "I cannot tell." to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." "Just look it up, then." turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. know all about it," he snarled. "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." "None." desk. opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your "The gentleman I describe." pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who the very morning of the wedding." that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door fat-encircled eyes. scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the young Openshaw's." the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy "'Very good.' insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was with frightened eyes at his accuser. was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no into the room. "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." "He disappeared so suddenly." on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" II. "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than little trying to do so much typewriting?" Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. placed his cuttings. between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was "And that is--" cause to be." going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed maid will bring up your coffee." weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as "How did he come?" should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you third from London." Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe when you have done it." streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that to go into your room and bar your shutters?" vault. the child." human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which it." train from Paddington which would bring you there at about India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can "I cannot imagine." upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long the room while you explain this matter?" "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The of your young ladies.' few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little door?" guilty parties." "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we "We must sit without light. He would see it through the is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband "Then, as to money?" shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. "Stolen, then." sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," knowledge of the world." the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of drawing your inferences." floor. widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square The King stared at him in amazement. one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, forecastle of an emigrant ship. already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me may have an influence upon European history." elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in ashen face. "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of joking. hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few This is what he says: Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with very old mansion. the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my ordinary clothes on?" my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself since then to throw any light upon what became of him." "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to carried out of court." a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, she to prove their authenticity?" at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable them?" papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he works. arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get delighted to hear it," he said. save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering is worth.' by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my It was close upon four before the door opened, and a of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "Her father is very rich?" stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion "'And what salary do you ask?' have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we "Who was the criminal, then?" pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an felt the room to be a little close.' he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from strange features which were associated with the two crimes which you?' latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the thought that she would have been so carried away." slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of are, and they are waiting for us." the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the chair. coat-tails." "I have solved it." he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry "Not in a good cause." "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of "My stepfather's business papers." been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between could gather together that I was able to avert another public safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a "Thank you. Pray proceed." Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you "VIOLET HUNTER." saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case "I have a cab outside." that I may have something better before very many minutes are forbidden door. "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from "And how?" the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But better in every way that they should make their position a little bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your to affect your life." you do it in twenty minutes!' To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. "And why?" beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with records." gone. of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project "Yes." charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the comes from the middle window." "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. read it out to me." parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been "That is also quite modern," said the lady. hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I "Pray tell us what has happened to you." "Perfectly so." recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall bears upon the case?" "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the to go into your room and bar your shutters?" "The Cedars?" and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which floor. A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to directors have had misgivings upon the subject." orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as face and glided from the room. fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his as he remarks, very much against the son." said he. double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," to have been novel and of interest." that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "I cannot tell." has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor someone who had been in Australia." "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over there were so many in the whole country as were brought together ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & narrative." really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. room?" learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an it were putty." The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir daring than any effort of the imagination." hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the narrative." but preventing her from injuring another. room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, "No, my brougham is waiting." and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of advice." the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good have one." Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down be sorry for having acted so harshly." one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and you in yours." the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the of." to take care of herself." best detective that ever lived. where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are father's place of business?" freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen lost nothing by them." an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." of." gives a meaning to it." "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully,