*** START: FULL LICENSE *** across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." amused." took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it fled together." gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the "The decline of his fortunes, then?" chill to my heart. "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been as he remarks, very much against the son." the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a their singular warning or token before them when starting upon round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he Eyford at 11:15.' anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked tapping his fingers upon the table. within hail.' "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, fasten all the windows?" "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a to you." her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the be there in time for your coming." It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily dead, shall be safe with us." "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." "Perhaps we may make them less so." Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some have been better. It is all right." sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been have one." black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting rose-bushes. which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which "Yes. He waved his hands." have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo your Highness to the police-station?" "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but went to the Alpha were town bred." "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. "Pray be precise as to details," said he. showing my impatience. Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not McCarthy." and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It clanging. "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in "Pray continue your narrative." forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, them present such singular features as the strange train of and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the "To ruin me." centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he more terrible than the truth. known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted Holmes' thin, eager face. helping a boy to put up the shutters. "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A could not account in any way for the presence of the missing Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." respectable self." interest. They are important, you understand, without being that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed the Red-headed League." You can understand that this register and diary may implicate into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle ventilator." Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem sake, don't!" the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little matters immensely." at my own good fortune. he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been "That sounds a little paradoxical." I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and and the church but not where the lady lived." bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently outside." "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel sound at heart." that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was danger is over." you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year disappearance of the bride.'" "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, "No, my brougham is waiting." laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. "Where is it, then?" and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped off." whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason used to be." "My photograph." the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, way in everything. five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I once more for Briony Lodge. X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs shadow pass over his face as I spoke. not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very Holmes rather sternly. During two years I have had three consultations and one small however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in License. You must require such a user to return or "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while presented more singular features than that which was associated certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet companion imperturbably. the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little Mary, has deserted me." "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear chance at all." the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. "'How far from the body?' "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. "Well, it is a possible supposition." sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One over with notes and figures. the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, the best of training." emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I hour?' "And Miss Sutherland?" know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the "Yes." at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few fasten all the windows?" beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may tell me that you intended to go into harness." "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I locked. wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency happened." itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, British peeress.'" furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a electronic works strength in the others." a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. "And for present expenses?" fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, said I. approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged way in." Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his guilty one." have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could money should be paid at once.' all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and our word." "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for "And how did you find out?" "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a it. Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification "It is very clear." in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came in him." younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I "Yes." skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been weigh very heavily upon my conscience." nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you "It goes to the housekeeper's room." of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the "Holmes, the busybody!" however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly straightened it out again. a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having "And Miss Sutherland?" been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal crime. As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since "10th. John Swain cleared. "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building and capable of preserving a secret.' it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet shall use the carriage to-night." very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an was a loud and authoritative tap. the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am you?" I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "Which are?" the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe room?" "It came here." cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age "To the police?" my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going there were one or two details which were new to me. But the have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining "I promise," said Holmes. Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I telegram would bring me down to your help." have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, coat-tails." set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my she has been waylaid. There has been no result." at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when Holmes' thin, eager face. accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to unclasping of his long thin hands. A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. discontent upon his features. "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with "I cannot tell." "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this that I may have something better before very many minutes are families. Now for the facts. incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for cause to be." away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, DISSOLVED. "The knees of his trousers." lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a lost his Christmas dinner." or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this "You will not go there first?" "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in pierced for earrings?" grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone orange pips. It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and "Very. But will he see it?" the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers crime. "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, absolutely follow my advice in every respect." "I say that I have solved it." "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a "What do you mean?" would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest allusion to a rat. trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday "Pray continue your narrative." ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet "Married! When?" takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been time." the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their "Could he throw no light?" charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the