"You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." "Not I." "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss fish-monger and a tide-waiter." "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK "'And the work?' sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect "None." "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to she might be summoned. "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here round with crates and massive boxes. interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. cigars in the box." the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind you." wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white chambers. the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley kind enough to tell me what I should do." of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, at my own good fortune. forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to of the one which your family is now devouring." fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so "I don't believe it." 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a "What then?" side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried pierced for earrings?" who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay to-night." "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "I am to be neutral?" way in." rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of ashen face. and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her in a very precise fashion." I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was beg that you will break it off." that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, laugh and put his lips to my ear. I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter "At what time?" were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my "Ten will be early enough." "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all "I cannot say that I have." noble correspondent could be. emerged. the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever he bowed and left the room without another word. "This concluded the examination of the witness." triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your "Was he the only applicant?" so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time there were so many in the whole country as were brought together sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a face and glided from the room. He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some "What, then, did Peterson do?" matter over." taking in every detail of the apartment. how narrow had been my escape. with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and as this. Pray let me have the details." death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' point our research must commence, and we will begin it by Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she as this. Pray let me have the details." her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I comes from the middle window." remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about "You horrify me." description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that examine." severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his Watson," he said cordially. merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, feature." outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must as this. Pray let me have the details." in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly was it brought him the coronet? home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William his huge brown hands. years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." "It's nothing of the kind." Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master "He is still with you, I presume?" I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. "It's nothing of the kind." play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. have had none more fantastic than this." "Pray let us have it, for all that." "Yes, there are nearly always some there." really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow was a lad." will take you up to see the machine.' "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about crackling voice. "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." said I. left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right question. "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went sake, don't!" hard-headed British jury." "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It "'Most admirably.' "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your very old mansion. all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" the salesman. "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering ways including including checks, online payments and credit card evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag "By no means." clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred meant." of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped ran thus: unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. the date of his supposed suicide." which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round "I cannot say that I have." sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have "And you thought he was pulled back?" saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for companion quietly. demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, "And you can do nothing until then?" our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his "Then I am your man." come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no companion imperturbably. "But how?" rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three friends, not even his own brother. Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the your equipment. see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him of." knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled "I will not look." "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may ill-usage at the hands of fortune. "No." strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and me. You must get home instantly and act." should be so warm over such a trifle." "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an "When did she vanish, then?" someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a "One horse?" interjected Holmes. have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in not interfere, come what may. You understand?" End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would asked. the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he what these perils are?" "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he fatally injured? strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. "'Never.' corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I way in everything. chill to my heart. aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather strong and stiff." that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never you." "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." face and glided from the room. though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" "Very. But will he see it?" My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the "Very truly yours, without success. At last the little money which I had saved began people don't know." The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able she to prove their authenticity?" British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the conduct the inquiry." "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple was feeling which was the fattest.' Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do in the dead of the night?' stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a my little problems." low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, "No." you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in his eyes and forehead. hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, had formerly been in part my own. "Thank you. Pray proceed." "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. "Certainly." Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought the dangers which encompass me." "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as back into the street. can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number at my own good fortune. his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and night.' said he. geese which you supplied to the Alpha." them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double appeal." "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were ventilator." indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on Eyford at 11:15.' a good hundred miles off by now." "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody galvanised. delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very you give your casting vote to?" Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and "And how have you succeeded?" garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my have got?" and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought "None." to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, "I have come for advice." we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he works. See paragraph 1.E below. "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may when you have done it." fasten all the windows?" have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his call it cruel." should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which not interfere, come what may. You understand?" safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper "Yes, from Horsham." he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the are windows in it, of course?" having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of shoulder. there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. off." had died away into the silence from which it rose. disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her said I. Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is "'What then?' I asked. inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what "And is that all?" "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR "Yes." breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are direction." this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with Edgeware Road. to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course "It is no ordinary one." "That is possible."