along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp the stones. papers." Chief Executive and Director "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. know that the truth is known." "And leave your case unfinished?" to surprise her." routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by compunction about shooting them down." perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, I have it here in my museum." colour had been driven from his face. multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine congenial hunt. liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in "But his left-handedness." "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. hand, madam?" "I see many objections to any such theory." me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and "'Yes, sir.' how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been October 9, 1890. "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, felt?" have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." "He is still with you, I presume?" steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was breakfast." unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading without success. At last the little money which I had saved began "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly I approached. "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I weigh very heavily upon my conscience." "By no means." access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and tell me that you intended to go into harness." head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, "And Miss Sutherland?" Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." The police have openly confessed that they can at present make "Precisely." run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an you, my dear young lady?' that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" photograph?" way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" clanging. more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "Then you may be so with me." "By train from Waterloo." end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to "But I am all in the dark." I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had lectures into a series of tales." man. cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. goes." despair." "But who is he?" stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With in his power. "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate morning." do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." strength." professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police unkempt, staring out at me. Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and yards of it?' jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they "How did he come?" and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he "Yes, he did." Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the "Ah!" "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have From what you have told me I think that it is possible that charge against him will break down." room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a throat." acquaintance?" learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set memory. "What will you do, then?" the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached matter over." in the hope of finding them." that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no "And Miss Sutherland?" the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the as he folded up the epistle. (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as "Ah!" wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a excitement. black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told "Frequently." You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I him and tried to hold him back. a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, "Your presence might be invaluable." freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further any little problem which you may submit to me." places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a "My own seal." into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out your only hope of safety." outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, "'Not at all. I only doubt--' Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of place no limit on the sum I may draw." from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not my special province." "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to some place of shelter and let the county police know what has "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was you, my dear young lady?' of a light. photograph?" very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced "I do." after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with "I cannot say that I have." attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple or in danger--" and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand retorted upon me, and I on you." "It is true that I have been generally successful." success. 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I of the way of danger. particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "He disappeared so suddenly." Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in had a long day." Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." not fit the lock." and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads cause to be." garden below. quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, despair." edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked it with his own hands." "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of "How can you tell that?" "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed fled together." advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered "Then, how do you know?" Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were had picked up in the wood. that, and I came down." "What!" he roared. there were so many in the whole country as were brought together and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the "And when will you call?" "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical be sorry for having acted so harshly." re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes along the entire front of the house, with three long windows "There is the writing." the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening of them has the shutters up.' hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry me what he had done with the three missing stones. touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "My own seal." never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant "I have my revolver," said I. to-morrow." left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become "When did she vanish, then?" manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, the south-west, I see." shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had because she had spent so short a time in this country that she "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "But the mystery?" It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for "Breckinridge is his name." "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which ceremony." all that?" wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining "It was an hour's good drive." Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My "It is solved." "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at as he remarks, very much against the son." coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but "I cannot tell." like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." results." "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is who was a member of your goose club." thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had the coroner come to?" remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew "Not in the least." 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from the so-precious time, but come!' "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, "What have you to say now?" I shall communicate with you." hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I "He might." "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still "One of his hands." which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to round and wave him away like that.' the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. Holmes. have accepted such a situation. this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His thin, with a long, sharp nose?" fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came distinguish the words: until night should bring an explanation. papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager appeared upon the scene." son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my system of imprisonment?" as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" head. So long, then!" "Why did you pick him?" solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each weapon." solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's British peeress.'" "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to one or two very singular points about this room. For example, deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would awaited us upon the table. considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, returned to France?" is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" useful material for showing traces. The double line a little society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down flock.' "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, you in your example." agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then bell. Holmes whistled. transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to only touch the interest." man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his "'A dozen yards or so.' me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the "My photograph." He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he present strange and interesting features that it is no easy "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for