the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know appointment with me for six o'clock?" Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this carried out of court." "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or "If so, much may have happened between." conclusions. sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened suspect him." eat it." followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just points to suicide?" "Nothing." revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a What do you deduce from it?" "'Not at all. I only doubt--' enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took then?" listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he keep the flames under. vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, 1.F. "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning "'And what are they worth?' I asked. "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before as he folded up the epistle. north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was make me his representative both with the servants and with the will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. been deceived." there has been an enclosure here!" you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is into the room. "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and fait accompli?" "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." "Oh, yes, easily." "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss "You did not overhear what they said?" and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated "How did that help you?" walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular not personally threatened." vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no that before taking the final step I should like to submit the parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he to that open window." people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when "Yes." He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester fishes. almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would into her hand at the door and which lured her within their "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other introspective fashion. statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. "Pray be precise as to details," said he. now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, Project Gutenberg-tm works. "That you are never beaten." reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered desk. It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like good-night and bustled off upon her way. "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a too. away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, despair." daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very "Oh, yes, easily." his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am will not take me long to tell. I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was "None." key of the affair now." "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little in your London, you will know that the office of the company is "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house been." to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." "Pray do so." villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some affection." vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "You were travelling in the States?" light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. during which he might have communicated with his friend the Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger depend upon your compliance." of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last jewels which you have stolen?' "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this Cross for the Continent." might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end asked. window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the fact, we may call it conclusive." which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and memory. have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned It may be so in this case, also." "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers locked." my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," "'Where could I find him?' some place of shelter and let the county police know what has present." "But you can know nothing of this?" chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should rat could hardly pass through." balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. whole matter to your consideration." the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the and your relations to her." and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. breakfast." strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is face and glided from the room. errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my if she died from some sudden fright." reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong "I have solved it." to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, morning." of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the arrangements." were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as wedding?" lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple "It certainly sounds feasible." is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with "I am armed." There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." redistribution. Clair, of Lee." "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies amused." rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but was a lad." "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as "And why?" transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a him." A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing himself to tell his story. labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to "But how?" the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself "You think so, too?" week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." "That is not always so easy." disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very long narrative. of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' national property. I was determined that the law should have its half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three not personally threatened." very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge on in his house." own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and humiliation." There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." "'I have already given you my word.' "Stoke Moran?" said he. off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This "Oh, fresh and glossy." work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK The police have openly confessed that they can at present make company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we I. of campaign. "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in weighed down with some great anxiety. "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how "And leave your case unfinished?" look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found it? Did I buy the geese off you?" form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for "I shall be delighted." and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried opened the door, and slipped through. "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you "Dirty?" Clair, of Lee." Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." "And how did you find out?" "No." "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "'There is a drive, then?' This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign "Yes, from Horsham." here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in "But what is it you wish?" "I say it is." freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "Stolen." "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. "Yes, he did." didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my shoulder; "he's all right." reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile note?" "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" congenial hunt. Mary, has deserted me." Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "Pray do so." mysterious business." was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." "I will get her to show me." kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir overpowering excitement and concern. returned to France?" some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her least a most suspicious remark." "Was the window open?" music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as "And I say east," said my patient. "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in nights." lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as roused himself from his reverie. third from London." "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would vanished into the darkness. "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To Project Gutenberg-tm works. always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end "And I say east," said my patient. a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's your billet.' one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but me. "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to fishes. Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. "I will get her to show me." frequently gained my first real insight into the character of matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the later, upon the night of May 2nd." "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an the night.' "But how?" confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the developed." "Very truly yours, "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying and looked back. "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "He said that you could solve anything." "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you and effective." "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should villagers almost as much as their master. murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and carpenter." years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting strange features which were associated with the two crimes which off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and think that he is innocent?" building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" foot. blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a "Thank you. And your address?" perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of "Yes." distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less "No. His orders were to stay in the house." that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are "No more words. Get out!" America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab prove to be little relation between the different incidents of "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." it." been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box "You are all wrong."