The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. as he folded up the epistle. active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, legal crime." drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' them present such singular features as the strange train of Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just "Just look it up, then." Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away fact, we may call it conclusive." posted to-day." front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden the tragedy. (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number humiliation." emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. late!' comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that wedding?" residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and events than those which have happened in my own family." have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "Not in a good cause." as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a that I can to serve you." knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 "But your client--" have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods seem to you to be relevant or not." instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the o'clock is it?" him, that man would not have given me such complete information if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, hard-headed British jury." doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers business." "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a away into the river." 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the "Ample." "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and his knees, staring into the fire. that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind "Your presence might be invaluable." abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it take the flies, but not before." means taking possession of that which another person has a prior The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all "What!" he roared. your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted know that the truth is known." "Did you become engaged then?" took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than "No." the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the point our research must commence, and we will begin it by not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good "Yes, but only for you and me." doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a as noiselessly as she had come. fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small families. Now for the facts. autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in envelope. butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and excitement. his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the stepfather?" but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook dead, shall be safe with us." horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been appointment with me for six o'clock?" "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you companion imperturbably. way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is important." may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of individual and becomes the badge of a society." interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by him!" going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I You want to know what became of those geese?" "She will not sell." deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and "Not yet." and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" "A thing like a cleaver," said he. "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to their singular warning or token before them when starting upon least a fellow-countryman. 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with the armchair which I pushed forward for him. "What!" he roared. outside. I held the little printed slip to the light. of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the and wait." the armchair which I pushed forward for him. "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" should be so warm over such a trifle." size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his which should have the effect of calling the attention of the "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, passage and a tap at the door. things are very often connected not with the larger but with the and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All did not hear it also.' the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes tension within him. fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he seven miles from Eyford Station.' above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of of." can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for case-book, which he consulted. think, you have already met." "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong happened." which should have the effect of calling the attention of the wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." people don't know." swore that no one else had been in the front room during the it means?" "Where did you address your letters, then?" "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient "Where did you address your letters, then?" seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was the little opening for the ventilator is." and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' "I cannot tell." look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of threw himself down with his face to the pillow. social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these "Why, it's a dummy," said he. that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave "The vanishing of the lady." Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a tell him that I know him to be innocent." "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' "Stolen, then." central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, fatally injured? "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's beyond words. had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was side. Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the "By all means." herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager room had already been engaged for us. answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was "And Irene Adler?" would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business off." "When did it break out?" bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly "I am sure." and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and gives a meaning to it." to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. we went to search for him, face downward in a little "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. meant it for the best. phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger death." returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with October 9, 1890. fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in "I cannot say that I have." You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to I took the paper from him and read as follows: little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by bore every mark of being an average commonplace British which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." during which he might have communicated with his friend the dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It trying to your nerves." the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical fait accompli?" dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and had died away into the silence from which it rose. had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they not as remarkable as your advertisement." creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when something of him before." predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted true." music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which opportunities to fix the problem. fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility made his money." the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" "Where to?" "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have present strange and interesting features that it is no easy wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will later, upon the night of May 2nd." year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by constraint." "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the "Yes, it would be as well." "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting interest. They are important, you understand, without being "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, intrusion of other matters." foresight and the moral retrogression?" guilty one." "It is very clear." the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "I answered that I had not. upon the white wrist. social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study and that he would see to anything that turned up. to where he stood hid behind the curtain. so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin this as likely?" photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and conceal it?" "It is true that I have been generally successful." "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, not interfere, come what may. You understand?" yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. "It is to him that this trophy belongs." held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of minor matters until to-morrow." force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard closely." "What then?" Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "What then?" "And what then?" wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in digesting their breakfasts at home." by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they one or two very singular points about this room. For example, unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, could gather together that I was able to avert another public look upon these things in a different way." "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the prison!" "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." "But of what society?" "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. morning." outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the "'Is 4 pounds a week.' "Certainly." them?" He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business at once, for I have only half an hour." answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "'And what salary do you ask?' photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself it? Did I buy the geese off you?" Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction charged with?" "My dear Holmes!" "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote burst into a hearty fit of laughter. his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child