"Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the the room while you explain this matter?" "At the wedding breakfast." unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had there when the Rucastles went away." mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's forehead. "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. gives a meaning to it." wedding?" I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre perplexity from it to my illustrious client. "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." Eyford." that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which "Certainly." few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him Doctor, of the paper and the date." "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over "Yes, sir." into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or formed some opinion?" "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that purpose of examination. upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no know that the truth is known." to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's him and tried to hold him back. The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by Munro.' unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. again, where I was soon asleep. "I will, Miss Turner." aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. photograph a cabinet?" explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I Holmes' room. cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to nothing with him." him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held sake, don't!" I think that I could be of assistance to you." instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you discontent upon his features. I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the the coronet at all injured?" fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" the coronet at all injured?" brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened my room." soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. me. You must get home instantly and act." every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number see a sister of mine apply for." "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said your own bird, so if you wish--" The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about had died away into the silence from which it rose. lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! rooms." a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be "She walked into the breakfast-room." he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: to a more successful conclusion." "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me "'I am sure if I had known--' A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She "Precisely so. But how--" way in." "There is the writing." had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the "What!" he roared. great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass eat it." What do you deduce from it?" for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "I should like to see him very much." had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and at my remark. "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off manager. of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up "'A dozen yards or so.' determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you Leadenhall Street--and--" Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate "He might." Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss been." overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, acquaintance?" but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing and no precautions can guard against." "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year "Then he might have called to you?" examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me success. stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, status with the IRS. secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" nothing of it?" "What will you say?" o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get "He might." bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn formed some opinion?" suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by crowd. watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "Yes." "And what then?" was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune wall." most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was main points of my analysis." will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a begun to whiten, even as mine has." Countess of Morcar's?" every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the hurried by. "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to my former friend and companion. steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which and the colonel ushered me in. The telegram which we eventually received came late one night found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy felt?" you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." "Yes." donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate with her." "I am still in the dark." nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa "I answered that I had not. endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one you do it in twenty minutes!' long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave will he say when he returns?" "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the the room while you explain this matter?" self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. "Indeed! Whose, then?" conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal next day. been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a "Then, how do you know?" state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I "I have seen the police." doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: infinite languor in his face. "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which "You think that he is dead?" saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and fluttered off among the others. his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From them present such singular features as the strange train of right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon mystery." flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no people don't know." she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be lips." "Yes, at the mines." deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp him. it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been I shall communicate with you." the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the "You think so, too?" lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the morning." turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "'Yes.' usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' Street. directors have had misgivings upon the subject." Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" shaken than I had ever seen him. should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to the best of training." ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his use an arc-and-compass breastpin." For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt "Stoke Moran?" said he. much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." and files of the old papers, following the future career of every her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I "Your sister is dead, then?" "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it go from here to the Strand." you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit back alive. what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the entirely lost his self-respect." What do you deduce from it?" "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to here and I will read it to you: "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "Dirty?" "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered morning." "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was "It surprised me." "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would "No." "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had noting anything else of interest. the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he as the one I chose?' "My own seal." they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with conclusions. helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding said I. from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he hair?' delirious. search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "And your father? Did you tell him?" weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the silent! Oh, he will be silent!' "He said that you could solve anything." "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now "There are none." made his money." little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford chair. the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid tightly behind him. and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I "The gentleman I describe." Doctor, of the paper and the date." very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an "Proceed, then." goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, "I don't believe it." sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we into the room. "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so conversation I have gathered that they have been married about Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured "How can you tell that?" at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and "You are all wrong." of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, chair. nothing of it?" explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who and a shock of very red hair. outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they "'Then let me do so?' railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." was a loud and authoritative tap. "I shall most certainly do so." thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should front of the hall door has given its name to the place. We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes vague figure huddled up in the darkness. "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his stood on the top of it. "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could "Certainly." work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at frequently gained my first real insight into the character of "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called nonsense.' business in the City. She little knew what. work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in fluttered off among the others. I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as "Witness: I must still refuse. death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' States. this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that had picked up in the wood. absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man "I cannot as yet see any connection." when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous problems help me to do so." "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting "You did not overhear what they said?" Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have "You horrify me!" was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I national property. I was determined that the law should have its "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it this remarkable episode. "And it is--" Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added "'And what are they worth?' I asked. "Whose house is it?" so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it foresight and the moral retrogression?" which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything