another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a way in." the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "I cannot imagine." more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the anything to do with the matter?" making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to American. Then who could this American be, and why should he fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and and shall probably return to London by the evening train." "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged certainly not very gracious." "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, sofa. This way, please!" about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the something of him before." salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of guilty one." very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, ran thus: "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than "What I expected to see." when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at what these perils are?" cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was my room." the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social "But you have hopes?" Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get quick march!" Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her "Yes." all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort really the only notable feature about the thing." conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered prison!" receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of had formerly been in part my own. was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not "Yes, all." sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London of a light. man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not throat." relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an spark where all is dark to me." the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which "'Very good.' "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he "My Mary? Impossible!" "What of the rat, then?" walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to "Was there a secret marriage?" him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at to surprise her." two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we drove away. experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel the salesman. point in the dark hollow of his hand. "It was a confession," I ejaculated. "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it voice, changing her seat as requested. handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I http://www.gutenberg.net seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I The events in question occurred in the early days of my before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending with the outside air!" father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days "You have compromised yourself seriously." my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events least a fellow-countryman. array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the next day. agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime "And how have you succeeded?" resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE that he will be back before evening." "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of "'Certainly,' I answered. was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but before the coroner and the police-court." corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of "'A dozen yards or so.' foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, taking in every detail of the apartment. with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." Mrs. Toller serenely. that I am arrested." vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does "What shall I do?" 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem distinguish the words: inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking were unconscious?" certainly do as you advise." I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. village inn over there?" "'Very good.' Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue my special province." it." lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point God! What an exposure! What can I do?" "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. along the entire front of the house, with three long windows have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, "Holmes, the busybody!" these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his absolutely follow my advice in every respect." "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in of a light. have been better. It is all right." suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural shall use the carriage to-night." Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the Eyford." "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. have an American origin." "Then, how do you know?" derbies." enough to aid us in our search." that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A matter." her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and stalked out of the room. sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you some terrible trap for her." facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" "I came to find a friend." scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of bore every mark of being an average commonplace British observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a late!' morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project that "Not particularly." grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and hurried by. incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who shall use the carriage to-night." apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his leave you to your papers for a little." company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long "About a month then." had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He least a fellow-countryman. Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings "The rest you will leave in our hands." dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored their singular warning or token before them when starting upon woman who has had her own way to make in the world. "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when bled considerably." important." "'Is 4 pounds a week.' have I gained?" grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." skylight. so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the hands. empty. action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be Sutherland. from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making "What do you mean?" Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with forebodings. there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my the so-precious time, but come!' out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and his knees, staring into the fire. thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." here." fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and The telegram which we eventually received came late one night "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or as yours." "I answered that I had not. "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her "Where did you address your letters, then?" train.' have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question once more to my work. it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if you, my dear young lady?' "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles "None." intimate personal affairs in this public manner." the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he "He slept on the premises." "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. note?" "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. "Do you go out much in society?" had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should see me here to avoid scandal." January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my "No. His orders were to stay in the house." "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." present." evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding better in every way that they should make their position a little "And your mother is alive?" strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a presume?" passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed "Won't it ring?" "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the people don't know." was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is "How many? I don't know." grasp, he hurried from the room. "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird was a loud and authoritative tap. given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" throat." the window, rose as we entered. "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady which was all perfectly true. outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "He disappeared so suddenly." "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and colonel looking down at me. memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of of receipt of the work. "But you were on a friendly footing?" face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good "And it is--" I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman his wife has ceased to love him." X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very "Never." away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to "Bought." can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the there." was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed "No." humiliation." ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable place of silver." case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the subject to the trademark license, especially commercial Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become narrative." feature." have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "9th. McCauley cleared. at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his remarked. of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet "How on earth--" Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" late." owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could never to learn it at all." "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. correct than the official force." "That is not always so easy." "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this plantation.' how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as "Not in a good cause." matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "'About the same.' We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" man. Sholtos." on re-entering her father's house?" and a shock of very red hair. in your London, you will know that the office of the company is stammered. see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far "'Is 4 pounds a week.' There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category.