"Then what has happened to him?" concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared London for the present?" call it cruel." aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "And how have you succeeded?" natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; second window is the one that I jumped from." "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the "Do you know him?" Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "You know me, then?" in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your address. him to be an active member of the medical profession." the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. "'Never,' said I. colonel looking down at me. "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming bled considerably." again before evening." time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as behind me. strode off upon his way. "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it the morning and make my own way in the world.' "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the said he. "At the wedding breakfast." "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. charge against him will break down." She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a what do you think they found in the pockets?" clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had strong and stiff." question. is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a "Ha! you find it so?" Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah "I know where it is." "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little matter." completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. tassel actually lying upon the pillow. "Indeed! Whose, then?" discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this this truth that in these little records of our cases which you and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the directors, with the result that you have seen." "And sit in the dark?" upon the sideboard." fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "At what time?" defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not the south-west, I see." above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her dead, shall be safe with us." young Openshaw's." cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at results." Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a conceal it?" way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, searched, without anything being found which could incriminate to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see License. You must require such a user to return or Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, "Here?" "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are "'Certainly,' I answered. "Nothing." cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. "No bad?" jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I remarked. ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and allusion to a rat. going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** "By no means." "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at "I am sure." For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was chamber." and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than quickly through a disagreeable task. facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. this Miss Turner." very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and been deceived." business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact "Two days later this same performance was gone through under unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a likely to be some crony of the landlady's." Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do it means?" have established a very serious case against the son of the "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an of fine shops and stately business premises that they really were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage McCarthy." she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at "I think it very unlikely." appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found was already answered. "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. sake, don't!" view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who him!" Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can assist you in forming an opinion." arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, formed some opinion?" enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right it." next day. essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This "I beg pardon." it." the matter." "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It hour?' address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while tassel actually lying upon the pillow. his cane at the bell-pull. glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, assist you in forming an opinion." of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study "Oh, yes, easily." saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I is," said he presently: danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came tell him that I know him to be innocent." "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, "'You doubt its value?' he asked. male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the that, and I came down." and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish and prosperity to your house. Good-night." "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen ventilator." "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after strength." the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to new duties?' America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had mystery may be cleared along those lines." aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest "It certainly sounds feasible." "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this "I am all attention, madam." sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I "Why did you beat the pavement?" "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the success. McCarthy's innocence. were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I "But you were on a friendly footing?" into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are for its centre. "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." 'please.'" "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever "The King of Scandinavia." shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he "Do you go out much in society?" "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for I shall communicate with you." over with notes and figures. "But I am all in the dark." writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." chamber." nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. "Whose house is it?" had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. of Fenchurch Street." like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "Yes." other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when "No, but the enclosure is." turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. your billet.' like that before?" yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an "'Very good.' traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She experiences." "Yes." what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better fait accompli?" "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left village inn over there?" chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets "'And what are they worth?' I asked. rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened "Come in!" said he. Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from danger is over." out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to unkempt, staring out at me. the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he "You will not go there first?" saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to telegram would bring me down to your help." by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which "I fear not." "Stoke Moran?" said he. brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for "Very truly yours, veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark cost them two and thirty pounds." window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the she might be summoned. "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony meant." "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, which are rolled in Rotterdam." wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "Yes, he did." here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and the little opening for the ventilator is." bill, which interests me deeply." "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you "When did it break out?" who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in pictures, libraries, or plate. narrative." those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first "The rest you will leave in our hands." of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. "That is it on the dressing-table." "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached "Why did you pick him?" woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled corner of the building. of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. held up the lantern and gazed about him. scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross "I should like to see him very much." thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds "And from a noble client?" "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" Henry Baker is a member." the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall outside. "The doctor?" "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined to-night?" I asked. member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the "You'll never persuade me to believe that." purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, "It missed him, then?" "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a which should have the effect of calling the attention of the The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call than was visible to me." again." met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been hard-headed British jury."