with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about read it out to me." He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black American. Then who could this American be, and why should he brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." was the fact that his father should, according to his account, and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and "That is not always so easy." "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we showing my impatience. and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. present." house for five minutes.' official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital "No more words. Get out!" "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of gives a meaning to it." my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the which are rolled in Rotterdam." "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend "No." possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. present." "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into the little opening for the ventilator is." with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little "But I am all in the dark." Gutenberg-tm License. "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white green of the new foliage. manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the wedding?" re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included know all about it," he snarled. "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be "A thing like a cleaver," said he. as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the roused himself from his reverie. was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. we went to search for him, face downward in a little cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood This is what he says: can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock Miss Holder?" had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" thought that she would have been so carried away." "It came here." bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered villagers almost as much as their master. "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened would then never go into court at all." look upon these things in a different way." rose-bushes. us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and the window, rose as we entered. or other trace. But how on earth--" "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may lumber-room." all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as Henry Baker is a member." writer." the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." "She walked into the breakfast-room." protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable "Has he come with you to-night?" "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me "'Ample.' began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know Sholtos." "Yes." "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his "You horrify me!" was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off "No. What a strange idea!" The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the crime." "By no means." relief. force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester away into the river." walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of Pool. "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest "My dear Holmes!" of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my "I see no marks." the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train correct than the official force." question. fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "May I see it?" and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose death." ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and examination of the premises, but without finding anything which a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door respectable self." "It must be recovered." story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, that he has suffered." the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler "I will do it." believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his key turn in the lock." to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are "Then how many are there?" moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, felt?" good for you to do.' so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always "I cannot as yet see any connection." comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two You want to know what became of those geese?" day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He client, rising. surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, you?' For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I morning." last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall "It came here." a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the now. It seems that there had been some informality about their he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if the devil!" higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in whether it answered to the description of any of their about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send sneer upon his pale face. as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. For additional contact information: it with his own hands." at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King could not have written that. It is the German who is so incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" residence of the great financier. completely overtopped every other consideration that we both affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to business." what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a the Friday. Was it to be in church?" of note-paper. It read in this fashion: "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless "Never." that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "I am armed." "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence was used.' shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may "'And what salary do you ask?' neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. "10th. John Swain cleared. also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." front of the hall door has given its name to the place. "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting how narrow had been my escape. of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "It is very clear." "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the "Always." papers on the sundial.'" "I cannot say that I have." long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' "'Yes, I promise.' into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the late!' Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at strength." disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which which are rolled in Rotterdam." "The Coroner: What do you mean? Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both ways of our fellow-men." she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the respectable self." of this gang." order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be on re-entering her father's house?" approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and "Murdered?" way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, least a most suspicious remark." enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her for the market.' chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has fait accompli?" hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening man. freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of now. It seems that there had been some informality about their on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he very peculiar words of the dying woman?" electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this yards of it?' "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to "Certainly." "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings "'I have heard so.' "Yes?" over with notes and figures. "Dirty?" collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, beyond words. Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He affair. "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. not within a twentieth part of the market price." of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "At what time?" better in every way that they should make their position a little another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been eavesdroppers?' is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been about here speaks of his kindness to him." exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "'Not at all. I only doubt--' been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of "Ten will be early enough." Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he "I should like to see him very much." "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. gentleman's clothes. the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, the matter?" abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, "What can it mean?" I gasped. room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came "'Entirely.' in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I respectable self." "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a a suggestive one." that you can jump it.' really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had beg that you will break it off." the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said to-night's adventure." sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather floor. "He might." my little problems." "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was their singular warning or token before them when starting upon paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and respectable self." anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and "Which are?" "You are hungry," I remarked. other means.' "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your one of the states of the Union." was keenly on my guard against him. "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress "Not I." Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, him to be an active member of the medical profession." journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a "You know me, then?" "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep meant." "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior speckled band?" determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of corner of the building. "It was an hour's good drive." have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier Watson," he said cordially. "I don't say that. Perhaps." charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my and put his glass in his pocket. beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly "I never have." "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when it." "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white of a light. written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you "It was an hour's good drive." my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how "Why did you beat the pavement?" confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner "The doctor?" had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, "Ha! you find it so?" crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, second." "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement.