more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left together. Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, which was all perfectly true. unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker in the dead of the night?' his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon keep the flames under. strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the had formerly been in part my own. shadow pass over his face as I spoke. you give your casting vote to?" obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will "My photograph." fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one been anything against him. He had for years been known as a passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, "It missed him, then?" hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be matter." Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "My last client of the sort was a king." "I have solved it." large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." and glanced through. The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and you." Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor my friend's incisive reasoning. them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at companion imperturbably. companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question "'Ten to two.' "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true mysterious business." "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present in this way: and your relations to her." extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every "Ample." "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror read over the extraordinary announcement. "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I "What is it, then--a fire?" slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very vanished into the darkness. reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "'You cannot say what it was?' "It is possible." the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might points in connection with it which never have been, and probably of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, ago." be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day away to you." "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to there in twenty minutes." secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord more solid." Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right nothing with him." country, and eventually married, without anyone having a this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any laugh and put his lips to my ear. should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached to change my dress. Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps and glanced through. and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left results." "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped the date of his supposed suicide." "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have "Dirty?" home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her there in twenty minutes." "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to you in your example." whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their presume?" little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you 'please.'" material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." within hail.' "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, certainly do as you advise." Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. towards the blaze. Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in death." machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. south, for the country is more deserted there." skylight. they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in ventilator." carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the me. classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang your own bird, so if you wish--" at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. "What do you make of that, Watson?" Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's "I came to find a friend." jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I shoulder. heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to you." Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and politicians who had been sent down from the North. moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" looking up at the numbers of the houses." for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." writer." "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I "'Ample.' the roots. seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he house for five minutes.' "I will get her to show me." the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very infinite languor in his face. "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted awaited us upon the table. gone before you can get him to hospital." the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the "Yes, only one." defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had "Perhaps we may make them less so." which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" anything to do with the matter?" "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and chambers. point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without head. So long, then!" the night.' happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "Your French gold?" see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, "Certainly." "Stoke Moran?" said he. the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe "And sit in the dark?" "You think that he is dead?" "But you have hopes?" business?" "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the off." about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely heavily into it. Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for name is different." about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious the matter?" started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources "Now, then, what's the last entry?" "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. Pope's Court, Fleet Street." giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "Dirty?" difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles hurried away. reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, "It is no ordinary one." gone. "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. the inquest, and which are worth considering." That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not room had already been engaged for us. "By no means." Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of "What then?" my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention "Awake, Watson?" he asked. "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and derbies." have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight "Oh, yes, easily." Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish "Game for a morning drive?" that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened gigantic client. which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the "It is his hat." there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has "What do you make of that, Watson?" Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, prisoner's face. "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me everything which you would wish to know." didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the new duties?' presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the "None." "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for "Never to return." the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the "And for present expenses?" while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. time." way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high "And from a noble client?" going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near her also." would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I and have this put in the evening papers." cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored arms and began to sob in a high treble key. you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the noting anything else of interest. from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the "No." ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the man. Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the everything which you would wish to know." feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would "'Not at all. I only doubt--' business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly a very grave face. Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I "And sit in the dark?" showing my impatience. man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his distinguish the words: is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that chamber." "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" I think that I could be of assistance to you." the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and to his chemical studies. to talk it over. ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an of the efforts of the United States government and of the better "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so "I am about to be married."