than was visible to me." I am not easy in my mind about them." before, for it was considerably after midnight. about here speaks of his kindness to him." Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the and all of them with the keenest interest. "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, "None." eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight as he folded up the epistle. disappearance of these gems?" great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in chamber." my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making for and were ordered to this address. places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish down from London to inquire more deeply into it." we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under "A client, then?" usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one sofa. This way, please!" the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her since then to throw any light upon what became of him." red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year take the flies, but not before." It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a about. analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in experiences." morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong most important business. It is probable that he will be away all disappearance of these gems?" "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed husband's writing, madam." problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his "Which surely he restored to their owner?" other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your always that they were such commands as a lady might with views." showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his retorted upon me, and I on you." upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of call for it in person on Monday morning.' gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting threw himself down with his face to the pillow. help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and "Proceed, then." "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite to me. photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried used to be." at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the "I am armed." very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, His smile broadened. so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. Street. open." SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any go--none." much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right "Yes." the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes the side-table." the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed written. "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." "What of the rat, then?" "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of from you?" pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my fatally injured? conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are the little opening for the ventilator is." that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round "That sounds a little paradoxical." were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. head. So long, then!" very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my with her." was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is official police." fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch "Which surely he restored to their owner?" "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife at home. conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to "You saw the ventilator, too?" "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." woman." lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the knowledge of the world." fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "Which surely he restored to their owner?" first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on careless servant girl?" Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and and that he would see to anything that turned up. him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever "And that is--" He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very drawing your inferences." arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. directly by questioning you." "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is "My last client of the sort was a king." by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the knowledge of the world." Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' I nodded again. "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "Yes, from Horsham." will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin my secret was safe in his possession. endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were flock.' "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his careless servant girl?" invisible to me," I remarked. sparkled upon his finger. to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were arrangements." bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We cheerful." to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." it." "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a "What shall I do?" "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and developed." mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come "'It is locked up,' I answered. answer." Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There "That is not always so easy." Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution Surrey." ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE daring than any effort of the imagination." as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will at my own good fortune. go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. from the brougham. Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the annoyance, but no jest. way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one rooms." Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business something of him before." DISSOLVED. go from here to the Strand." among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and But Holmes shook his head gravely. "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right woman who has had her own way to make in the world. suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event jewels which you have stolen?' naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." For additional contact information: were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable behind me. was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? his face. 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with gone before you can get him to hospital." "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double God! What an exposure! What can I do?" is four-and-twenty." "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are nothing of it?" expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at may never be exposed to such a temptation." geese which you supplied to the Alpha." The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an seen the man in the road." "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. "To the police?" confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be The telegram which we eventually received came late one night "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my questioning and rather startled gaze. "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little "'Ample.' you understand?" "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would shall not find me ungrateful." backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them there was no need for father to know." and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the "But you have hopes?" "'Yes, sir.' "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post did not hear it also.' It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from handed it to him. order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." case before our client came into the room." "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a "I don't say that. Perhaps." characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a young Openshaw's." records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and I took the paper from him and read as follows: the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly call for it in person on Monday morning.' "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." "'I am sure if I had known--' "Yes." "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a disappearance of these gems?" gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who to that open window." leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical directors, with the result that you have seen." about here speaks of his kindness to him." side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very if I call to-morrow?" grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the she to prove their authenticity?" advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change article?" presented which may be striking and bizarre without being take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found "I warn you that they are very incomplete." during that time.' change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally "In the cells." home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when "Yes." "I have hopes." dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "'Certainly not.' how narrow had been my escape. "I promise," said Holmes. "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in house for five minutes.' one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she money should be paid at once.' quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our rose-bushes. "Yes." Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and said he. "How often?" I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and cigars in their mouths. "I see no marks." the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done new duties?' when you have done it." "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his and looked back. ourselves in the office." points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She The King stared at him in amazement. rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he the armchair which I pushed forward for him. (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings important." his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. "'You doubt its value?' he asked. could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and "'In my own bureau.' "It is true that I have been generally successful." "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was