dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick young Openshaw's." "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a ordinary clothes on?" "Bought." "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic side. flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and "So it appears." saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might Clair, of Lee." sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I Literary Archive Foundation "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the really the only notable feature about the thing." dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little "Get out!" said he. imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the his face. my room." station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." grasp, he hurried from the room. the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." there was no need for father to know." "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his "'I am sure that I do not know.' "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses strange features which were associated with the two crimes which room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear "But his lameness?" 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. acted in my house last night?" photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the distinguish the words: "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see all-comprehensive glances. it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had "I cannot as yet see any connection." "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. chambers. through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment and laid it on the table. "How did he come?" little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a so far?" have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day should be taken.' down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon fire. You quite follow me?" "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have me." "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the some place of shelter and let the county police know what has India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's character. His smile broadened. ashen face. and all of them with the keenest interest. "And it is--" re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things "Not yet." him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good notes," he said. even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, carried out of court." certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part "No." B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the "I say it is." disturbance in my wife." depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered all?" We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my "Upon what point?" and it need not interfere very much with one's other of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no arms and began to sob in a high treble key. Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." "Then, as to money?" "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a green of the new foliage. to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of little trying to do so much typewriting?" perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but "The decline of his fortunes, then?" old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his lumber-room." you." PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to mystery." subject to the trademark license, especially commercial "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity was used.' test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." see a sister of mine apply for." in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to "You horrify me!" claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and "But she could not love him." recover the gem." "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, "Imitated." I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than anything to do with the matter?" As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, in my life." brandy and water within his reach. and the whole place is in a blaze." case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be John Swain, of St. Augustine. "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my "And sit in the dark?" seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR "The King of Scandinavia." defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If discontent upon his features. invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the "I will do it." have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "Ah!" "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm train.' make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong "So I heard. You have him here?" fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and papers must be those that are destroyed.' seen the man in the road." every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father "To ruin me." at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I means taking possession of that which another person has a prior myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very tear off another piece?' "Then you may be so with me." in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your himself. "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I "Yes." be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I "And why?" and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of breakfast and whispered something to her husband. and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to burst out into a roar of laughter. the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. giving me time to thank him. "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the shaken than I had ever seen him. "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of "I think that I had better go, Holmes." October 9, 1890. turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried present." not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two unkempt, staring out at me. "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be some place of shelter and let the county police know what has and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined row." the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to get her out of the way." thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a What do you deduce from it?" dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an British peeress.'" I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and anything to do with the matter?" The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when "'Yes, I promise.' seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were suddenly upon us." "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to "'Yes, I promise.' "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without weighed down with some great anxiety. "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his "And your mother is alive?" accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the "Yes." granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came three fields round his house, and there he would take his least a most suspicious remark." I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest more terrible than the truth. lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of I shall continue with my miserable story. invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his bears upon the case?" machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this Arthur Conan Doyle conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not "Where did he live, then?" wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be "But you can know nothing of this?" and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and Sutherland. you, my dear young lady?' quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for key turn in the lock." ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from "What is it?" agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, "Did your wife hear all this?" room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." "At what time?" be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked habit of advancing money.' merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "I am about to be married." someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis "No, but the enclosure is." In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his His smile broadened. to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider "Yes." gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks both be extremely obliged.' was a perfect sample of the class. me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going was a loud and authoritative tap. "VIOLET HUNTER." through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I of it with the greatest attention. remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the during that time.' "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, wall." "'Tell me all about it,' said I. had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I the night.' whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank "How many? I don't know." "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for asked. look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations "Whose house is it?" reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. "We were both in the photograph." the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been narrative." would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell weary and pale-looking. standing smiling on the door-step. "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with "It is very clear." together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same my former friend and companion. solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. to change my dress. guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "I say it is." over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken approach us with offers to donate. Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "Yes." and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. investigation." "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to easy-going way." and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between paper in the air. "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both "Not social, then?" Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and