"Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the photograph?" accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and asked with his eyes open. My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "Nothing." The telegram which we eventually received came late one night "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do may never be exposed to such a temptation." and I shall be with you presently." dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of into the bag, and made for the door. little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from returning from some small jollification and was making his way was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, and have this put in the evening papers." when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be prisoner's face. it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." "Do you know him?" "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, "Game for a morning drive?" "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. away in different directions, and I went off to make my own at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look present strange and interesting features that it is no easy dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My such person." from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his weary and pale-looking. as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the money should be paid at once.' tail." note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, must compliment you." we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible "Yes." mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's legal crime." His name is Francis Prosper." "Was the window open?" much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right "That you are never beaten." must be when I saw the door open.' because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. "Not social, then?" Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this "But who is he?" generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no sit on the left-hand side of the driver." particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety someone who had been in Australia." I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "Pray do so." happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of that threaten you." But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all hands. reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at wedding?" cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so these bleak autumnal evenings." It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. Project Gutenberg-tm works. "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty Serpentine Avenue. "Well?" "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the "What shall I do?" I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean had formerly been in part my own. granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into his forehead." them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the disturbance in my wife." began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips little adventures." out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of happened." was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive cigars in their mouths. "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor sooner or later she must fall a victim. and shall probably return to London by the evening train." "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. You can understand that this register and diary may implicate stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" hopeless attempt at recovering them." "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon knowledge of the world." across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my empty. animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." do." shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, or other trace. But how on earth--" "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had lost nothing by them." late." It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "What then?" I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." simple cases which are so extremely difficult." sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "Then you may entirely rely on me." "And on what day did he meet his death?" was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the telegram would bring me down to your help." course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been you." my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a "I will do it." "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked villagers almost as much as their master. "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The of a light. advice." notes," he said. "'And the work?' only touch the interest." do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry business at Coburg Square is serious." three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and towards the blaze. she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small "Absolutely?" which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of "I cannot tell." "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated here." of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, "She showed me, as I told you she would." chair. "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad showing my impatience. Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against "A call for help, you thought?" you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent ran thus: silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, "We must have a cab." his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I leave you to your papers for a little." Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may "Yes." slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried outsides of the windows. room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs following enigmatical notices: her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they and inquire as to the address." to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who to talk it over. see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings bare slabs of marble. Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the Holmes' thin, eager face. "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called "Oh, the cause is excellent!" companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "That is unusual in a young girl." were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is means taking possession of that which another person has a prior the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a what do you think they found in the pockets?" waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working "It certainly sounds feasible." round with crates and massive boxes. object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all been able to understand it, in a very few words. quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my rose-bushes. in him." for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by persecution?" "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the DAMAGE. accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an leaning back in his chair. to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence time." guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true do.' rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have highly," said Holmes. goes." light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg he. 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." "No, distinctly professional." long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his little trying to do so much typewriting?" struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return "Did you become engaged then?" records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was late." events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of heavy and sharp instrument." style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when "But who is he?" other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand learned something! Where are the gems?" for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that she slowly sank and died without having recovered her suggested at once that there must be a communication between the "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the "It is to him that this trophy belongs." "On Monday." "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw "Deserted you?" "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might detained." others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, "Have you it here?" both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was II. desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front since then to throw any light upon what became of him." some mystery and the punishment of some crime." whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but of." "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and looking up at the numbers of the houses." we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "You don't mind breaking the law?" look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the http://gutenberg.net/license). very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do me. You must get home instantly and act." marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out "But how did you gain them?" "You did not overhear what they said?" "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "Why did you beat the pavement?" association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors "Yes." main points of my analysis." XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter other means.' shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to you for a few hours?" feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that not fit the lock." upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may "He said that you could solve anything." worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a guilty one." forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon as this. Pray let me have the details." "How often?" any little problem which you may submit to me." "I am still in the dark." machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that be best to do. my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding closely." Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must him." man. "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and breakfast." "Her father is very rich?" hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client