up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal plantation.' "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the said he. investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag 'I should be able to look after that for you.' "Awake, Watson?" he asked. and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. "He said too much." "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture any little problem which you may submit to me." "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "That is also quite modern," said the lady. imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon at home. even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I "My photograph." reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to putting in the horse. remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been their singular warning or token before them when starting upon gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** lost his Christmas dinner." You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, foresight and the moral retrogression?" he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His key turn in the lock." fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found awkward doing business with an alias." against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you sufficient punishment." His name is Francis Prosper." confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with "Where is it, then?" of note-paper. It read in this fashion: brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a 'I should be able to look after that for you.' he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" here and I will read it to you: visitors." the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the what is your own theory as to what took place?" These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, you?' gone. of this gang." "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. "But what is it you wish?" William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp occupations.' and prosperity to your house. Good-night." was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout Doctor, of the paper and the date." He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and the station." "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his you give your casting vote to?" and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You before the coroner and the police-court." "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, "And for present expenses?" uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that bears upon the case?" upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If been." A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. "'Ten to two.' of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a "No." to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There "Thank you. Pray proceed." retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the to Leatherhead. "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was purpose of examination. companion imperturbably. "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which introspective fashion. very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our simple cases which are so extremely difficult." across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the face and glided from the room. "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at wedding?" searched, without anything being found which could incriminate "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the "And what then?" Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he examination of the premises, but without finding anything which social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the showing my impatience. "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to "Yes." from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. vague figure huddled up in the darkness. "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the "He said that you could solve anything." He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was "Has he come with you to-night?" the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the lids now and glanced across at his visitor. "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are very peculiar words of the dying woman?" into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and Literary Archive Foundation Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a it with his own hands." case before our client came into the room." "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I IS The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for I was concerned in it." once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and the iron safe, which he closed upon it. One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so The summons was a brief and urgent one. upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the "What do you make of that, Watson?" anything to a woman, for she would have her way." too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I again, where I was soon asleep. "There is the writing." "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked hurried by. "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they "'You cannot say what it was?' called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a "Very well, sir. And this stone?" his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It and the whole place is in a blaze." "Never to return." it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the "'Not at all. I only doubt--' "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage Holmes. now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, photograph?" "And sit in the dark?" "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a that there was nothing in it, after all." their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a have accepted such a situation. George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." do you make of it all?" fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham "You know me, then?" "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the pity, because in other respects you would really have done very through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally call for protection in the marriage market, for the present "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that "And sit in the dark?" creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet behind me. Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me good for you to do.' of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria "Nothing." managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, key of the affair now." lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything "'Then let me do so?' unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" problems help me to do so." of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw "And on what day did he meet his death?" have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and McCarthy's innocence. familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She business in the City. She little knew what. it were putty." Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." place, I think that there is good ground to think that the with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. matters immensely." thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, "Stolen, then." silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. chance." out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. "Dr. Becher's." companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out may have an influence upon European history." pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way which our visitor detailed to us. and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to opportunities to fix the problem. hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line "She showed me, as I told you she would." "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have morning." never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded "Oh, fresh and glossy." upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look place, I think that there is good ground to think that the advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened fishes. cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's "One of his hands." Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like present strange and interesting features that it is no easy he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very the house with me." "I don't say that. Perhaps." in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" "Precisely so. But how--" said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the "By no means." had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not bare slabs of marble. "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her and prosperity to your house. Good-night." conclusions. "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my four million human beings all jostling each other within the I nodded to show that I had heard. clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. constraint." about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the "I would pay ten." Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to "What, then, did Peterson do?" of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual Project Gutenberg-tm works. a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock him and tried to hold him back. "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. "'I am sure that I do not know.' "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had threw himself down with his face to the pillow. "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from back alive. "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you quick march!" me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "Nothing?" along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I "The rest you will leave in our hands." "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a to have that photograph." without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose to-night's adventure." fatally injured? "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, indeed happy." chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have cup of tea. "My opinion is in no way altered." this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged "By no means." morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "'Never,' said I. league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very wall." previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous writing, and yet I know it well." "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' in this way: 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client guilty parties." Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. bearing upon the case." gone. As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not disturbance in my wife." object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to maiden herself was most instructive." into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low