"One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. "I beg pardon." in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret your only hope of safety." the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' "Have you it here?" office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, Mrs. Toller serenely. this man was intellectual?" papers on the sundial.'" A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," works. See paragraph 1.E below. key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great "What can you not understand?" had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard impression behind it as though a window had gently closed two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing about. "I will not look." already referred to. "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." may never be exposed to such a temptation." Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his good for you to do.' on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a characteristics, but those are the more obvious." here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" laugh and put his lips to my ear. "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all "There are none." day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce sparkled upon his finger. ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I you in your example." smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at http://www.gutenberg.net "And that is--" with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be "My dear Holmes!" have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I "How many? I don't know." it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one look upon these things in a different way." collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of success. in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more be. one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." exactly what you advise." loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would returned to France?" was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." anything to do with the matter?" the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that said he at last. stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to "'Yes, it was gone.' "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general cheerful." the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to outbreak?" I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more "It is very clear." many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which sentimental considerations in the background which would induce "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do the coronet in his hand?" remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a cup of tea. Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. on in his house." either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" nothing with him." "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on him!" which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the "Where did he live, then?" his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him persecution?" black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace "Then I shall certainly come." pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? "Then I am your man." frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed "That is it on the dressing-table." Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under morning." "It is very clear." "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. "'And what salary do you ask?' for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even "I should wish to." are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You "Of Friday, June 19th." Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent likely to be some crony of the landlady's." lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black "By train from Waterloo." to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar eat it." "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you the very morning of the wedding." to-night?' his grey eyes. "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, business." Henry Baker is a member." and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all "Which surely he restored to their owner?" slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have "And your mother is alive?" hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I never to learn it at all." black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce of the efforts of the United States government and of the better strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated prison!" the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely presented more singular features than that which was associated the night.' enter Dr. Roylott's room." from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre criminal. We have already had experience of such." "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and the King without delay." may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his this as likely?" and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this the general public were present, then?" The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at "You have the photograph?" a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my likely to be some crony of the landlady's." fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less "To the police?" thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a is now desirous of getting those letters back." be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An present strange and interesting features that it is no easy Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and the King without delay." he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an to-morrow." predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and works. "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time "Holmes, the busybody!" midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility "'Tell me all about it,' said I. do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. if only as a check to my own memory." idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "But how did you gain them?" Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I ready to-morrow?' I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This face and glided from the room. definite end. "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened James Windibank. Voilà tout!" "'What then?' I asked. brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I the matter?" "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. http://gutenberg.net/license). breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" money should be paid at once.' the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. But Holmes shook his head gravely. directors have had misgivings upon the subject." my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have "Pray let us have it, for all that." Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a guilty parties." without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his "My opinion is in no way altered." and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." asked with his eyes open. of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest she used." which we had just quitted. "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the populous neighbourhood." and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was guilty parties." "I beg pardon." Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought front of the hall door has given its name to the place. quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. certainly do as you advise." over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between "From his hat?" "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of to tackle the facts." I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of to-night?' "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. your equipment. before, for it was considerably after midnight. shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was "And you thought he was pulled back?" at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., thought that she would have been so carried away." "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped disturbance in my wife." "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would without success. At last the little money which I had saved began "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the "I don't say that. Perhaps." "That was it, sir." "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his silent! Oh, he will be silent!' a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, meanly of me." closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything "'Ten to two.' "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had "'What are you doing there?' he asked. obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. "It is his hat." shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of again." daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But that I am arrested." some mystery and the punishment of some crime." this poor creature." "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. "Who was the criminal, then?" "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness "You forget that I know nothing about it." "Ten will be early enough." He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the