The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, "He is dead," cried several voices. future lives." borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; felt the room to be a little close.' way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which "'Which dealer's?' problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon that I may have something better before very many minutes are "'It is locked up,' I answered. borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough must compliment you." placed his cuttings. believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on figure." after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been "Nothing?" there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking papers on the sundial.'" knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just ill-usage at the hands of fortune. world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better "'And the work?' south, for the country is more deserted there." "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door the date of his supposed suicide." my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. to go into your room and bar your shutters?" glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a "I cannot imagine." Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself words came to my lips. entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is was it brought him the coronet? knowledge of the world." "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' fire. You quite follow me?" stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution The telegram which we eventually received came late one night its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and lids now and glanced across at his visitor. reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic to miss it." "And it is--" business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, outbreak?" matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried "Because he was handy and would come cheap." know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, colonel looking down at me. "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. sit on the left-hand side of the driver." happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet and put his glass in his pocket. massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I man. springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding back to my heart. "How often?" all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of "What will you do, then?" carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "Do you go out much in society?" on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked "Yes." it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not "Texas, I think." my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A perplexity from it to my illustrious client. simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by secret." "Perhaps I have." Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for Serpentine Avenue. heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with remarked. inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She "One horse?" interjected Holmes. "What, then, did Peterson do?" "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "What then?" "Awake, Watson?" he asked. resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. knowledge of the world." Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious very old mansion. Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a "It is a murder, then?" "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you "Certainly." Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for dramatic, in fact." "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the occupations.' Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to Pope's Court. are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some breakfast." that I am arrested." was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under crime." "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I own family. "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her me. You must get home instantly and act." him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far outsides of the windows. "And for present expenses?" wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The "Not I." his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in "That was it, sir." from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a to-night." "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they must be when I saw the door open.' making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project lost nothing by them." disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "Do you know him?" was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his to you." One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in "In San Francisco, a year ago." have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my I took the paper from him and read as follows: walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the stepfather?" held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she "Yes." Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and "And now?" I asked. "I came to find a friend." the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you Dr. Gregory B. Newby ago." where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa "But we can't all be." Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." laugh and put his lips to my ear. not, dad?" she asked. have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and the Friday. Was it to be in church?" will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." it? Did I buy the geese off you?" "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an I took the paper from him and read as follows: narrative." tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he the stable lane now." sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been a little more before I quite committed myself. family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the and looked back. "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your lamp. crime. "By no means." without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. "Where, then?" "But she will refuse." were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," gentleman's clothes. "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a considering the formidable letters which were received by himself actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of him, that man would not have given me such complete information little trying to do so much typewriting?" They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "What can it mean?" I gasped. coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell "Yes, from Horsham." our word." "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned States. Lestrade of Scotland Yard." have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a "Yes, only one." "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and ceremony." her also." Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination outsides of the windows. his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress taking in every detail of the apartment. penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel intimate personal affairs in this public manner." ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. conversation I have gathered that they have been married about and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day silent! Oh, he will be silent!' my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" "Your presence might be invaluable." wall." fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. there were one or two details which were new to me. But the hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "By no means." to have been novel and of interest." said Mr. Holder. PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting furiously. "He said that you could solve anything." How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It "I am about to be married." smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from which I could not give. He asked for Alice. bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature that, and I came down." "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few completely overtopped every other consideration that we both family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded John Swain, of St. Augustine. extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital were wasted." you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the Lestrade of Scotland Yard." The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would triumphant cloud from his cigarette. resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right things are very often connected not with the larger but with the mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from too. practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that "But of what society?" "Nothing?" the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last I held the little printed slip to the light. "One?" "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper the so-precious time, but come!' Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons strange features which were associated with the two crimes which "And why?" "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." test if we have an answer to our advertisement." very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed leaning back in his chair. other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman to some other building. dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." all that?" "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty "And why?" from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any that "There is the writing." year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which morning." "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the are, I think, all that we need." Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during corner of the building. - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and here and I will read it to you: quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was even so self-evident a thing as that." pictures, libraries, or plate. remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I "Well?" untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible "I am all attention, madam." "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and "We were both in the photograph." breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were "What then?" appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of some place of shelter and let the county police know what has first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was Mrs. Toller serenely. touch that coronet?' "Well." "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then business matters.'