"Then how many are there?" prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular it right.' floor. dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the nice household for a young lady." money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and that Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is main points of my analysis." respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." whole matter to your consideration." the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in him and tried to hold him back. unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know "Where did you address your letters, then?" long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and "'What, the red-headed man?' signal between you and your father? "What, then?" place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to with some details as to your case." possible that we could bring him back to her? "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came tightly behind him. have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to "Eh? What was that?" a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he humiliation." it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little up this clue while it is still hot." woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated relation between them, and what the object of his repeated before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience delirious. of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." Holmes. cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still "Your sister is dead, then?" lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing "Yes." and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing "'Oh, no.' for the market.' it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. maiden herself was most instructive." heavily into it. in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the over part of the map. "What do you read?" a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the begin with, and I had not got mine yet." unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was "No, I had a dozen." tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet "Precisely." upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away any more." lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the my friend's incisive reasoning. saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some were new raised from a basin. corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban "I will not look." searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who head. So long, then!" "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a the very letters. But what is this written above them?' threw himself down with his face to the pillow. of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day him to be an active member of the medical profession." seven miles from Eyford Station.' "Yes." hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a "And who is her maid?" careless servant girl?" "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "What is it, then--a fire?" furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I "Yes." someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' "What shall I do?" I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of "Very truly yours, into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it the matter." single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the His name is Francis Prosper." "Never to return." the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. chair. affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress "Nothing." society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of yet." mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a his fortune, and I went back to pa. Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every papers diligently of late, have you not?" that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." the coronet at all injured?" "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known shoulder. when your master had gone out." on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police in a friendly supper." have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in it." "No bad?" better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter chemical work which was so dear to him. that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs "Who was the criminal, then?" nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon "Could he throw no light?" as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, "On your arm?" "What have you to say now?" this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was answer." husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this think you a quite exceptional woman." stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything system of imprisonment?" he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. "Very much so." information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head whatever might befall. transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what such attractions and accomplishments?' should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged "Not particularly." myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's lips." yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black "My dear Holmes!" asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike "Pray do so." dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the "A confidential servant?" "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" village inn over there?" unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. purpose of examination. we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture least a fellow-countryman. were unconscious?" "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery too. "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to "I am all attention, madam." "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "VIOLET HUNTER." hand, madam?" help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you works. See paragraph 1.E below. "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry himself to hunt down. his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she could not account in any way for the presence of the missing to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He "You saw the ventilator, too?" I was concerned in it." "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the During two years I have had three consultations and one small dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet instituted." friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of with you?" photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the his face which made him a very different person to the round, Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out question you as to those details which seem to me to be most everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said I think that I could be of assistance to you." I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was ways of our fellow-men." way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the "I cannot imagine." Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? "I cannot as yet see any connection." livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting fait accompli?" during which he might have communicated with his friend the on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. "But I have heard all that you have heard." call for it in person on Monday morning.' that he has suffered." read it out to me." wedding?" possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might "Why? What do you mean?" "The gentleman I describe." criminal. We have already had experience of such." quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove before the coroner and the police-court." the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp "And on what day did he meet his death?" and the colonel ushered me in. "No, but the enclosure is." even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I me what he had done with the three missing stones. "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it ago." "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled do." when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles himself to hunt down. what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, be sorry for having acted so harshly." "Then I can wait in the next room." which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" of Fenchurch Street." rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a was the fact that his father should, according to his account, that before taking the final step I should like to submit the the armchair which I pushed forward for him. need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know my friend's incisive reasoning. respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in brain must have something in it." "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; "One horse?" interjected Holmes. "And Miss Sutherland?" departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. the warnings." "Certainly." learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an "Not in the least." friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which "But how?" "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if you in yours." not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up ventilator." "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money hard-headed British jury." "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. "'About the same.' It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never our word." could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life it with his own hands." poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the conduct the inquiry." "What are they?" Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given "And who is her maid?" the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport Sutherland. of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to Have you good authority for what you say?" of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it "Was there a secret marriage?"