For additional contact information: closely." hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his "Come in!" said Holmes. Sholtos." "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am ill-usage at the hands of fortune. union?" day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is lamp. that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my "You think that he is dead?" gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm little adventures." that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, present strange and interesting features that it is no easy "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I "It is no ordinary one." enter Dr. Roylott's room." "What will you say?" interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "Come in!" said Holmes. his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. "Yes, sir." Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice together. three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and the matter?" "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the and looked back. A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," "'Quite sure, dad.' purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project "But who is he?" "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." "10th. John Swain cleared. suggested at once that there must be a communication between the credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would "Pray let us have it, for all that." and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two third from London." the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the held up the lantern and gazed about him. down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." been shamefully used." have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers "That is it on the dressing-table." "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly along the entire front of the house, with three long windows prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the appointment with me for six o'clock?" Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. lamp. plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "Nothing?" son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, which it had come upon my father." answered with a sidelong glance. daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are maiden herself was most instructive." with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. nice household for a young lady." Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let three fields round his house, and there he would take his drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be "'Then let me do so?' into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant gbnewby@pglaf.org your room." Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge presented which may be striking and bizarre without being The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," been able to understand it, in a very few words. buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open prove to be little relation between the different incidents of "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She which our visitor detailed to us. tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come "Absolutely?" and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the "I think it very unlikely." an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and "Here?" one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, woven round him. nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' little adventures." let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had respectable self." whatever might befall. object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, least a fellow-countryman. rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came pity, because in other respects you would really have done very while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly "But to whom?" girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the three of the beryls in it, was missing. in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my relation between them, and what the object of his repeated watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call light and attacked it." wife's character?" forbidden door. him. "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. "Oh, the cause is excellent!" to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" "And the murderer?" it." said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. for the market.' "Yes, sir." sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. when your master had gone out." chamber." "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" she to prove their authenticity?" once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one "And what did you learn from him?" of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "Yes, certainly." back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last the very morning of the wedding." wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons hereditary King of Bohemia." said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him "Thank you. Pray proceed." strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such "What shall I do?" money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes writing, and yet I know it well." woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through photograph?" imbecility!" he cried. against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you delighted to hear it," he said. status with the IRS. was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might definite end. have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." "No good news?" some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only weighed down with some great anxiety. I. "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case "But how did you gain them?" the inner apartment." some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something ways including including checks, online payments and credit card front of me. "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it of the way of danger. accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the spare." "'Ten to two.' town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face nonsense.' you." "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We a little more before I quite committed myself. glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's away to you." possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was "Did he not advertise?" "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and success. "It is very clear." direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen "Yes, sir." "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, upon the shelf for the interim." I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this "Which are?" It may be so in this case, also." last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He "Was there a secret marriage?" fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as purpose equally well?" this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is families. Now for the facts. her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, Have you good authority for what you say?" was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked "Dirty?" bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On maiden herself was most instructive." "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head was feeling which was the fattest.' called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." your Highness to the police-station?" his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little this Miss Turner." "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his in. creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up things are very often connected not with the larger but with the Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police one or two very singular points about this room. For example, am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an developed." "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, The telegram which we eventually received came late one night on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' Dr. Gregory B. Newby to where he stood hid behind the curtain. "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I "One of the highest in England." "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not placed his cuttings. that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered were new raised from a basin. glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with "What then?" stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir was a perfect sample of the class. "On your arm?" veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner "None." the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they of campaign. day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were cigar and let me expound." "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face upon a handsome competence. newspaper selections." We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong ceremony." still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left on re-entering her father's house?" my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are was a lad." in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel "But you have hopes?" round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe "Never." not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint "I promise," said Holmes. "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. through." "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. a room. a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, hair?' this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl.