lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William "What!" he roared. said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out obstinate." "Yes, the wine-cellar." "Pray do so." disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which place no limit on the sum I may draw." doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will fait accompli?" "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic his eyes and forehead. refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission my former friend and companion. Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself him to be an active member of the medical profession." "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, other means.' Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly appeal." "I promise," said Holmes. http://www.gutenberg.net better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss returning from some small jollification and was making his way friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of the so-precious time, but come!' speckled band?" secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away if I call to-morrow?" Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure that, and I came down." I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its that you can jump it.' estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "No. What a strange idea!" "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior "Yes, the wine-cellar." "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of crackling voice. knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, this Miss Turner." to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works for its centre. even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, "How did you deduce the select?" money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the confronted him. "Why, what do you mean?" Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "In answer to an advertisement." "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted fait accompli?" Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." "And you don't know his address?" were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. stood on the top of it. "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a signal between you and your father? behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the the driver. hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland "Then you may be so with me." room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as "You have it, sir, just as it happened." "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney the driver. Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," Eyford." In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an in one or two places in England?' confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" "I have a cab outside." against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his "It was a confession," I ejaculated. practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your man. I know him from the photograph." retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. hour?' allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I you understand?" End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the knowledge of the world." Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon lumber-room." terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which said he. Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. public press." understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the "But he might be a bachelor." his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress "'Yes, it was gone.' "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." back into the street. and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward "I see no marks." Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next "It is very clear." "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room chair. Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the "No, thank goodness, she did not." power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty wedding?" definite end. him, that man would not have given me such complete information "A confidential servant?" Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted "And how have you succeeded?" seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. "Could he throw no light?" read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, suggested at once that there must be a communication between the the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to enter into my head. "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his "No, I had a dozen." of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' wedding?" "Because he was handy and would come cheap." "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to seen the man in the road." "And how did he make his money?" "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I "That is also quite modern," said the lady. upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There the one as in the other." power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, "My dear Holmes!" "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. followed. company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing "But what harm can there be in that?" outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed on re-entering her father's house?" was once confined in the cab my mission was practically stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out there is a decided draught." "What is it, then--a fire?" But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an she to prove their authenticity?" doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the "No." and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms despair." village inn over there?" individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread daring than any effort of the imagination." "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now "Absolutely?" IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The side. not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. go back?" "What! a murderous attack?" "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not "Dirty?" against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the bird of prey. the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are The note was undated, and without either signature or address. "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' "It is no ordinary one." "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an footfalls from the street. during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian visitors." the stable lane now." need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' said I. at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." "An enemy?" my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his and laid it on the table. may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical best detective that ever lived. danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no if only as a check to my own memory." Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, "But you can know nothing of this?" can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." who was a member of your goose club." pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the man. I know him from the photograph." "She told me to ask you." and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." gentleman's clothes. the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute to-night's adventure." business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but with some details as to your case." "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, matter." even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the the room while you explain this matter?" impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' "'I am sure if I had known--' "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these key of the affair now." Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a "And how did he make his money?" papers on the sundial.'" was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far it." "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' experiences." my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face intimate personal affairs in this public manner." occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we "'Most admirably.' receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 "Ample." very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at the King without delay." rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from "The landlord of the Alpha." "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had kindly on the shoulder. "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," I leave." Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the way: "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." a little more before I quite committed myself. "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. existence." "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." have not had my rubber." and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "Certainly." Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into anything to do with the matter?" "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most his huge brown hands. disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." carried out of court." against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office "It is possible." "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, the best of training." the devil!" About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is "By all means." "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and "But what will you do?" much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to questioning and rather startled gaze. "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "Nothing?" The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out anything to do with the matter?" carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George without success. At last the little money which I had saved began concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an "Well, some hundreds of times." strode off upon his way. coat-tails." man. I know him from the photograph." know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found *** START: FULL LICENSE *** side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down disturbance in my wife." patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital outside." true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to It may be so in this case, also." "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and direction." pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over remarked.