a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a "Do you go out much in society?" had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a companion imperturbably. fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that derbies." http://gutenberg.net/license). which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and think that he is innocent?" I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic following enigmatical notices: "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might returned to France?" for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then is acting for the best. vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. again." result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that "Nothing." Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both conclusions. error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, "Yes. He waved his hands." posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the "How did you trace it, then?" quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most Henry Baker is a member." spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and pierced for earrings?" brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down "Yes, but only for you and me." to some other building. this man was intellectual?" of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as me." moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His for its centre. the side-table." full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of a little more before I quite committed myself. presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his experiences." 1.E.9. shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it for its centre. had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a clanging. "And on what day did he meet his death?" character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding down in his armchair and closing his eyes. the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked "Upon what point?" you." "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and "Then I am your man." "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was appeared upon the scene." return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and "It looks newer than the other things?" at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback "Only as much as we can deduce." side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was photograph?" on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of laugh and put his lips to my ear. forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a "But your client--" could go. particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were which we had just quitted. purpose of examination. and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: "Yes. He waved his hands." "It was." "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the as noiselessly as she had come. "So I have heard." mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. too. much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right served to weaken the effect. abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This "Ah!" refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a to arrive at through this?" A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. subject to the trademark license, especially commercial "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety "'There is a drive, then?' widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" conversation I have gathered that they have been married about from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any works. is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we "What do you make of that, Watson?" The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. persecution?" third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the gives a meaning to it." London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and to surprise her." always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of "In San Francisco, a year ago." and inquire as to the address." whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a "So I heard. You have him here?" varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend "I see no marks." but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him that you can jump it.' Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two becomes even more simple." she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. gigantic client. "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. me." cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with vanished into the darkness. is acting for the best. penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of in him." sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is had this final quarrel? "And how?" could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" his face. "'Ten to two.' 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: who was a member of your goose club." Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no should be taken.' She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and present strange and interesting features that it is no easy "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she sofa. This way, please!" "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will then?" shag which I had seen upon the previous night. latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent 1.F. there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable even of instruction." where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of my friend's incisive reasoning. disturbance in my wife." possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you From what you have told me I think that it is possible that wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old "Her father is very rich?" nothing of it?" hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, companion. successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you strength of mind to control. her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" use an arc-and-compass breastpin." whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the anything to a woman, for she would have her way." tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close "About a month then." spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white seem to you to be relevant or not." offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a "Perfectly so." emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest "He said too much." The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly behind me. hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a whether it answered to the description of any of their ventilator." photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they "Precisely." "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added written, and locked the door of the office after me. and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue "That also I could fathom." with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up that I may have something better before very many minutes are "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, if she died from some sudden fright." rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should sparkled upon his finger. that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof feature." remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project http://www.gutenberg.net all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his "My Mary? Impossible!" flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to "But how?" tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it "You heard nothing yourself last night?" my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an the night.' half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable fuss that is made over them." ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "And why?" would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am to tackle the facts." "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and salesman. "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere think, you have already met." them?" "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull "Imitated." not personally threatened." from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "Yes." wanted for ourselves." "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would galvanised. soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. "Yes, sir." Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's sit on the left-hand side of the driver." huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful "I say that I have solved it." "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an as noiselessly as she had come. Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. have had none more fantastic than this." so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." points to suicide?" not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom papers on the sundial.'" scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." a suggestive one." the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it and prosperity to your house. Good-night." "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that address. idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come during that time.' "Pray tell us what has happened to you." see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the observed. Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded him, that man would not have given me such complete information tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the fattened it expressly for you.' forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then Watson," he said cordially. Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic what these perils are?" have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch whereabouts. I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass quick march!" sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most bed dies. Does not that strike you?" "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" back alive. of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" "Was your sister dressed?" that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it tassel actually lying upon the pillow. "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would