perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever Clair, of Lee." beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." "'Is purely nominal.' "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the spare." confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always "It was an hour's good drive." "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear stalked out of the room. in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" once more on the important position which you have been fortunate fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I unclasping of his long thin hands. the matter." said he. "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and "It is to him that this trophy belongs." he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending that you can jump it.' have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set "'I shall certainly be there.' generous with you in money matters.' "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little despair." then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, "Perhaps I have." them?" "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? "Then I can wait in the next room." get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards at my remark. "It certainly sounds feasible." about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now your own bird, so if you wish--" though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to might help us?" stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from "What then?" "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. one else, I think." newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, depend upon your compliance." and put his glass in his pocket. there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" good for you to do.' brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera problems help me to do so." seen the man in the road." street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an fat-encircled eyes. inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve Surrey." "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be his cane at the bell-pull. Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well "Yes." to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a test if we have an answer to our advertisement." he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his are, I think, all that we need." "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us present." "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." "In the cells." air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now served to weaken the effect. "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed there was no need for father to know." person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking all that?" right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting "And on what day did he meet his death?" "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." round and wave him away like that.' pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if my room." LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, "'And what salary do you ask?' "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found "Did your wife hear all this?" young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present "And leave your case unfinished?" "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two window when the police appeared." was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered problems help me to do so." bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished his eyes and forehead. you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a "Pray do so." "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that "I do." American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." "But what will you do?" up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of "Where did he live, then?" "Whose house is it?" "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger room. characteristics, but those are the more obvious." "And how did he make his money?" believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his eavesdroppers?' "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly place of silver." "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do cost them two and thirty pounds." figure." the driver. them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these "I am about to be married." "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which "I don't say that. Perhaps." here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. arms and began to sob in a high treble key. "So I am. Very much so." Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than him." down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers Clair, of Lee." you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this completely overtopped every other consideration that we both "That is it on the dressing-table." the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an locked." overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The tapping his fingers upon the table. girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from "On the contrary, this is the right side." "He said that you could solve anything." need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "Thank you. And your address?" "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to "'Not at all. I only doubt--' "What office?" spare." fluttered off among the others. which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them "Perfectly so." the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were "Then how many are there?" her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will said he, "my real name is James Ryder." having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very happened." most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but begin with, and I had not got mine yet." in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was when you have done it." He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I than was visible to me." the one as in the other." between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, case-book, which he consulted. endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one completely overtopped every other consideration that we both "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body conduct the inquiry." been with you?" even so self-evident a thing as that." journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may made him keep the appointment." from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at "Your sister is dead, then?" sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money back alive. red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, that the gas is not laid on in his house?" accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a one's self under obligations.' Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous "You heard nothing yourself last night?" these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, breakfast and whispered something to her husband. to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works wedding?" probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old troubles have been weighing upon his mind. He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided chill to my heart. Does that suggest anything?" "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no maiden herself was most instructive." "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help train.' "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked out of this horrible affair." of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have yourselves in at night?" "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, memory. this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the matter over." "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" to tackle the facts." professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police weigh very heavily upon my conscience." look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do she might be summoned. traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no signal between you and your father? "Just look it up, then." prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by to a more successful conclusion." those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring their singular warning or token before them when starting upon "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." cigars in their mouths. instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "I should be immensely obliged to you." what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully "I was afraid that you were engaged." been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door License. You must require such a user to return or reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, there is a decided draught." "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly shag which I had seen upon the previous night. neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of some place of shelter and let the county police know what has "In the cells." leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge You can understand that this register and diary may implicate any." Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its is worth.' old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the "Yes, that is the Crown." learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of to take care of herself." crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official drove away. vanished into the darkness. number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away "What office?" after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry