learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. "By no means." "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark You want to know what became of those geese?" the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the that before taking the final step I should like to submit the my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect "And I to find an enemy." horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your "I promise," said Holmes. recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion "But what will you do?" Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At vanished into the darkness. keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" But Holmes shook his head gravely. At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had "I don't believe it." "It is very kind of you." "Upon what point?" without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an have been better. It is all right." before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the "That is not always so easy." You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' new duties?' but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted to affect your life." away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for highly," said Holmes. "No. His orders were to stay in the house." located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked for and were ordered to this address. light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish bonnet, and went out." the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A feature." both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers once more on the important position which you have been fortunate I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my useful material for showing traces. The double line a little "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I way in." whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered them?" Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: "Why did you pick him?" "I cannot tell." me upon any point which I do not make clear." bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking quickly through a disagreeable task. front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich away into the river." "'No, I know no one in these parts.' lamp. the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of the very morning of the wedding." "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other such attractions and accomplishments?' utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project "Where, then, is my wife?" Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, "'Certainly not.' to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual "I was sure that I might rely on you." son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have "Holmes, the busybody!" "Your French gold?" Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "Quite so. She has her freedom." gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon leave you to your papers for a little." glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they http://www.gutenberg.net country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been "No more words. Get out!" "There is the writing." 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I signal between you and your father? round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring "Then the page we have seen--" said he, "my real name is James Ryder." be there in time for your coming." were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the asked. at my own good fortune. IS "Very well, sir. And this stone?" Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third new acquaintance to Baker Street. ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring I shall continue with my miserable story. but preventing her from injuring another. seem to you to be relevant or not." "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from green of the new foliage. "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be where Mr. Fordham shows you.' to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of where we are going." "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most "Perhaps I have." been shamefully used." behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when McCarthy." "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his could go. that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my "'What do you call purely nominal?' impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the the driver. was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and a monotonous occupation." for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He "Pray be precise as to details," said he. paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," "Nothing?" have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for cause to be." abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that been able to understand it, in a very few words. refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to the one as in the other." "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to "None." these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To and it need not interfere very much with one's other workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and bore every mark of being an average commonplace British some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. completely overtopped every other consideration that we both "And when will you call?" only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard three fields round his house, and there he would take his India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the strode off upon his way. said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both "Where did you address your letters, then?" believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced tail." He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really hopeless attempt at recovering them." I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." him and tried to hold him back. her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish you?' fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the better grown goose." acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at October 9, 1890. "I don't believe it." "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "And did you observe any change in her then?" broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of "I fear not." accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. "A thing like a cleaver," said he. could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me before the coroner and the police-court." relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. vanished into the darkness. I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear "How can you tell that?" is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural 1.F. "And when will you call?" have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a "I see many objections to any such theory." deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on unkempt, staring out at me. can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all "I was mad--insane." She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than "What steps will you take?" I asked. of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon "Why did you pick him?" "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. gbnewby@pglaf.org "It is very kind of you." foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my his huge brown hands. likely to be some crony of the landlady's." seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to roused himself from his reverie. three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, trying to your nerves." public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are cause to be." rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. "Certainly." digesting their breakfasts at home." his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are tension within him. them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself the ceiling. more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or which it had come upon my father." "Well?" to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." "Very murderous indeed." action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. it." forbidden door. Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a "I should be immensely obliged to you." seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and been shamefully used." October 9, 1890. "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you of this gang." "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads pressing in one house as in another. "You know me, then?" went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of interests were the same as his." Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the "Nothing?" can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in existence." as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain