with frightened eyes at his accuser. yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry "Frequently." the window, rose as we entered. analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without has little to do with my story." outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between which should have the effect of calling the attention of the have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to John Swain, of St. Augustine. At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for long narrative. who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not one's self under obligations.' glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he "'I am sure that I do not know.' "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." this Miss Turner." were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon whole matter to your consideration." ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "But his lameness?" I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, "And how did he make his money?" "VIOLET HUNTER." of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a joking. in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "Yes, he did." upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal "You think so, too?" case before our client came into the room." would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." trifles." eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish "It must be recovered." are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry derbies." been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, Again Holmes raved in the air. the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the excitement. drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was "Indeed! Whose, then?" of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the few hundred pounds.' Does that suggest anything?" red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been touch that coronet?' on in his house." his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," there was no need for father to know." "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if Miss Holder?" with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that "And why?" puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down strong reason behind." know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with the loss of it. as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the neither fascinating nor artistic." the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to wife's character?" "Very truly yours, the stable lane now." stood on the top of it. solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have "But of what society?" "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, "The Coroner: What do you mean? "Nothing?" green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such interests were the same as his." the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his infinite languor in his face. "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went the window, rose as we entered. business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after that, and I came down." the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the to take care of herself." lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that towards the blaze. "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away shag which I had seen upon the previous night. infinite languor in his face. It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not "In answer to an advertisement." finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the "But it has twice been burgled." "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same any." daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've "'No, I know no one in these parts.' bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a the roots. not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, I leave." lids now and glanced across at his visitor. Holmes' thin, eager face. "'I am sure if I had known--' "Where did you address your letters, then?" companion. the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed "We were both in the photograph." could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have handed it to him. from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has rat could hardly pass through." likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day "I am in hopes that she does." really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, already referred to. when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed to a light-house. this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as Serpentine Avenue. prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he national property. I was determined that the law should have its road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or "Nor running a chance of arrest?" so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," "Who was the criminal, then?" conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that to where he stood hid behind the curtain. "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's Chief Executive and Director cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the "Was there a secret marriage?" doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good country, and eventually married, without anyone having a "'Why that?' I asks. credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged children over to America with him, so that I found myself without "You have the photograph?" in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never instincts rose up against that laugh. approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old "Murdered?" "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never "What?" had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of "But his left-handedness." He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could words came to my lips. from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." breakfast and whispered something to her husband. intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have for the market.' flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and and the whole place is in a blaze." Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "He might." "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she questioning and rather startled gaze. Holmes." strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these for and were ordered to this address. dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; noting anything else of interest. "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a records." thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on strength of mind to control. envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have beyond words. Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. tassel actually lying upon the pillow. The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen voice. may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder just ask you whether you had heard it.' eat it." endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out "Was he the only applicant?" I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "Yes." my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our It was close upon four before the door opened, and a "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before relief. were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." front of the hall door has given its name to the place. wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my said I. named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a "I have come for advice." "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, companion quietly. "'Certainly not.' was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is "At half-wages, in fact." "He said too much." reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a "But I have heard all that you have heard." Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon noble correspondent could be. companion. collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" could gather together that I was able to avert another public investigation." "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit place of silver." conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and "Bought." "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. father's young wife. "'And what salary do you ask?' that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves it? Did I buy the geese off you?" no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered was once confined in the cab my mission was practically "I have solved it." answered with a sidelong glance. stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have make me his representative both with the servants and with the "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might the night.' Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. returned to France?" did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the answer." "Yes." politicians who had been sent down from the North. which was all perfectly true. occupations.' note?" "No bad?" DISSOLVED. I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. legal crime." I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting impression behind it as though a window had gently closed "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I "It is half-past ten now." room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in "None." "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of the Red-headed League." "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists to a light-house. "No, I had a dozen." a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a the inquest, and which are worth considering." "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which relief. be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this colonel looking down at me. "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled "When did it break out?" of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the envelope. right! Sit down and let us talk it over." noble correspondent could be. tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." and wait." even of instruction." hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of "Ample." "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to "'And what salary do you ask?' the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" shag which I had seen upon the previous night. "How do you know, then?" "'What then?' I asked. glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to "My Mary? Impossible!" violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was