McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. "The decline of his fortunes, then?" did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. The note was undated, and without either signature or address. "Why? What do you mean?" heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a up this clue while it is still hot." every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates It was close upon four before the door opened, and a way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through "How on earth--" "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond indeed happy." four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of "It may not come to that," said Holmes. sparkled upon his finger. "That also I could fathom." light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. the roots. the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will standing smiling on the door-step. company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated prepare for the new role I have to play." "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, "Holmes, the busybody!" house for five minutes.' "And leave your case unfinished?" for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without DAMAGE. disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has one of the states of the Union." like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not "He said too much." business came to an end." branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his to where he stood hid behind the curtain. Foundation which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double "By no means." set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie papers on the sundial.'" particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety ventilator." "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I "But you have hopes?" papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." "No." promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." works. "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. have had none more fantastic than this." "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." carriage. It was a chestnut." "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. "Yes?" much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of "It is very kind of you." Pope's Court. events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his interests were the same as his." earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are "How many? I don't know." dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, "To ruin me." "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's "Come in!" said he. "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went quickly through a disagreeable task. "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty "He said too much." should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness "Why did you beat the pavement?" and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." that I may have something better before very many minutes are ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for his face which made him a very different person to the round, importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a papers diligently of late, have you not?" "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband me. it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked you." acted in my house last night?" this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." his grey eyes. as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the himself to hunt down. feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle awaited us upon the table. "But you would not advise me to refuse?" "But how did you gain them?" time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in do." Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good "Was she in good spirits?" us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for "Have you it here?" beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. with some details as to your case." son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' less than 26s. 4d. home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table rat could hardly pass through." play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such suddenly upon us." half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who "Not in a good cause." seem to you to be relevant or not." there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know absolutely follow my advice in every respect." of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." Clair, of Lee." snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend Street. might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for "Ten will be early enough." my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked them?" Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had cigars in their mouths. the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his was already answered. armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were forecastle of an emigrant ship. ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a you, my dear young lady?' seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just "A client, then?" the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to more solid." "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as the date of his supposed suicide." adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which hair?' know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no light and attacked it." zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, results." "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when second window is the one that I jumped from." "Oh, fresh and glossy." Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a pressing in one house as in another. hour." action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a taking in every detail of the apartment. Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my "What can you not understand?" Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical "But the mystery?" sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even "And on what day did he meet his death?" before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then know that the truth is known." "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged back alive. and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing this man was intellectual?" were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the not fit the lock." excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or along the entire front of the house, with three long windows "That is possible." It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales "Entirely." business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. http://www.gutenberg.net As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense "What steps will you take?" I asked. to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all less than 26s. 4d. By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "Just look it up, then." Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' started for the Temple to see my husband. "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with "Yes." "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest likely to be some crony of the landlady's." room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you highly," said Holmes. after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third "And now?" I asked. the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight a monotonous occupation." importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I it right.' "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. promised to bring home. "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." your Highness to the police-station?" he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon "My photograph." as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He electronic works "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I money should be paid at once.' confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He weighed down with some great anxiety. agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "You heard nothing yourself last night?" one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would the matter?" Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" "Ten will be early enough." "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" "Pray do so." dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out my special province." among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his chemical work which was so dear to him. to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me of." enter Dr. Roylott's room." with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your get the tickets." "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the which are rolled in Rotterdam." means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of papers must be those that are destroyed.' cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood Holmes' room. charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." it." There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which "Where, then?" indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the standing smiling on the door-step. believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. Holmes' face clouded over. "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the "Witness: It was. wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by the date of his supposed suicide." help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you is worth.' Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew The telegram which we eventually received came late one night memory. his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The "She showed me, as I told you she would." Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other the iron safe, which he closed upon it. not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & "Then you may entirely rely on me." effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had "Who by?" have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt "Not in a good cause." broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper strength in the others." asked. preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the "But it has twice been burgled." "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only "What! Had he lost his wife?" the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down this man was intellectual?" "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have