"No, finished." chance at all." and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as them, and came down just as you departed. "Well, but China?" "9th. McCauley cleared. "Yes." think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were brought there to personate someone, and the real person is "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the "But I am all in the dark." for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not "You are all wrong." south, for the country is more deserted there." "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. row." walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular "But you have hopes?" lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "What can it mean?" I gasped. Holmes. Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' "And Irene Adler?" this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a and put his glass in his pocket. "And I say east," said my patient. his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his whole matter to your consideration." lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, "Yes." delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock wedding?" delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become know all about it," he snarled. he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' Again Holmes raved in the air. "It's nothing of the kind." having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I hardly wander." very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a way in everything. have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, better in every way that they should make their position a little unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found "Yes." the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story clanging. with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," like gravel from a pit.' eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two absorbing." de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I "'Ten to two.' his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any "Yes." your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey all that?" Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I "In heaven's name, what for?" "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort thirty. wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address read it out to me." http://www.gutenberg.net lids now and glanced across at his visitor. the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the "That is possible." "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, there were one or two details which were new to me. But the questioning and rather startled gaze. "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the soul! here is her carriage at the door." he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. other lovers by making love himself." of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so there when the Rucastles went away." "A thing like a cleaver," said he. When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up Lee, in the county of Kent." o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry said Mr. Holder. some mystery and the punishment of some crime." This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing "No sign of it?" papers on the sundial.'" rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked whereabouts. He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a copied or distributed: inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to Where does the thing come from?' "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest orange pips. later, upon the night of May 2nd." tell them apart.' He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that eat it." The events in question occurred in the early days of my "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of "None." "Well, it is a possible supposition." events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open pity, because in other respects you would really have done very jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" there was no need for father to know." recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in "Yes." south, for the country is more deserted there." enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The "Do you receive much company?" he asked. "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and "It is no ordinary one." weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted already referred to. overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to enter into my head. without success. At last the little money which I had saved began burst out into a roar of laughter. front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must the nursery. does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few that, and I came down." brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. "What then?" pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have things are very often connected not with the larger but with the in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. "The gentleman I describe." it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If "You are all wrong." "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low "Then he might have called to you?" inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His families. Now for the facts. "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in "How can you tell that?" rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and like that before?" "An enemy?" reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your back into the street. these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had the one as in the other." began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from "Have you it here?" "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of "What then?" I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT his wife has ceased to love him." scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the a very grave face. Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The village inn over there?" little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the "Do you go out much in society?" the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, plantation.' to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. "My dear Holmes!" "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward "Yes. He waved his hands." pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any cigars in their mouths. appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the trifles." "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." "I think that it is very probable." "Of what?" "An accident, I presume?" "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the highly," said Holmes. expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom "Married! When?" hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your the warnings." overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his even so self-evident a thing as that." until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your you." treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name take the flies, but not before." result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and down. "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to "Nothing." "That is also quite modern," said the lady. but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest and the church but not where the lady lived." can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, case before our client came into the room." "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. think, you have already met." "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day enough to aid us in our search." companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." beyond words. appeared upon the scene." to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and "Nothing." "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front speckled band?" "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted hereditary King of Bohemia." stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. "I cannot imagine." bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, me upon any point which I do not make clear." upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk eavesdroppers?' "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." better grown goose." "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about Leave Paddington by the 11:15." "In the cells." thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police chambers. here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of villagers almost as much as their master. appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." lumber-room." no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the "And Irene Adler?" certainly do as you advise." put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your "In San Francisco, a year ago." as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the ventilator." unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "By no means." Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave the nursery. once more for Briony Lodge. should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old "My dear Holmes!" "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the "May I see it?" breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until "Awake, Watson?" he asked. article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that into the room. Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. a good hundred miles off by now." been with you?" "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his "What?" police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still Literary Archive Foundation if I call to-morrow?" be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper imbecility!" he cried. "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the "That is possible." "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does "A call for help, you thought?" and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, closely." butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love "My stepfather's business papers." would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should him nearly every evening." "And who is her maid?" shoulder; "he's all right." "You forget that I know nothing about it." hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just matters immensely." the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out disappearance of these gems?" deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the "Then I shall certainly come." "Yes, he did." tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. whole matter to your consideration." research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do "What shall I do?" "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of young Openshaw's." matter." stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I is now desirous of getting those letters back." appointment with me for six o'clock?" shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." "You saw the ventilator, too?" mysterious end." your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as invisible to me," I remarked. sound at heart." approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in "Nothing?" served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three "'As governess?' "What! You do not mean bodies?" "I will do it." surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this the stable lane now." "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? "The gentleman I describe." Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." late!' standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was The police have openly confessed that they can at present make which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in her also." of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "And now?" He raised his hand. "'What, the red-headed man?' call you and give you the chance." remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously