some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion as yours." that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which a room. three of the beryls in it, was missing. my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not events, Mr. Windibank!" was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, place, I think that there is good ground to think that the that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders had picked up in the wood. American. Then who could this American be, and why should he building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the me. You must get home instantly and act." heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which "'Entirely.' deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is depend upon your compliance." advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you in darkness. Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps DAMAGE. him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned "Where, then?" gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of shoulder. "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that "What do you make of that, Watson?" demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite passage and a tap at the door. Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the chance at all." glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard in the hope of finding them." beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. Young McCarthy must be got off, however." States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" was used.' what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "No, I think that I'll take it." Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This direction." "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his upon the shelf for the interim." number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if "My stepfather's business papers." to arrive at through this?" upon the shelf for the interim." sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster "Yes, they were peculiar boots." very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and thin, with a long, sharp nose?" house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, II. is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own keep the flames under. "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be "Will you go?" equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not than was visible to me." We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman said he. "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle companion imperturbably. "In the cells." was the fact that his father should, according to his account, was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day swore that no one else had been in the front room during the you in yours." "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud was once confined in the cab my mission was practically The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak brandy and water within his reach. girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I at my remark. and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always my room." there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." "That also I could fathom." an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and "'Stolen!' he cried. "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the of." in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of "'Certainly,' I answered. struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a were unconscious?" done what I asked you, Jones?" "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is "The decline of his fortunes, then?" stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But works. See paragraph 1.E below. that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." past. with you?" "At the wedding breakfast." "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most to have that photograph." Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for "On your arm?" turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of remarked. reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are "My private note-paper." imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and "Your French gold?" the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking occupations.' "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then "You saw the ventilator, too?" The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and like gravel from a pit.' total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the national property. I was determined that the law should have its great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced "Very murderous indeed." room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so Holmes." my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they fatally injured? old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers most important business. It is probable that he will be away all of them has the shutters up.' room?" last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I giving me time to thank him. "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." footfalls from the street. "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it "I have seen the police." it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his breakfast?" Lee, in the county of Kent." going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. what these perils are?" "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my "It was an hour's good drive." Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest affair. "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has into the room. again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. down in his armchair and closing his eyes. The King stared at him in amazement. whatever might befall. For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault is so. I know all about McCarthy." "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of them, and came down just as you departed. least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, there was no need for father to know." Serpentine Avenue. cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any again before evening." and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler friend's singular character. conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would are, I think, all that we need." "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. "One of the highest in England." the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." the nursery. "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day "Not I." "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, "A client, then?" his face. has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia one which it was hard to resist. just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" in my life." massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. attention." likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' awaited us upon the table. very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see way: France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." "Not in a good cause." Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, "Were they all fastened this morning?" corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual "What!" he roared. successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, pierced for earrings?" their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, "Yes." sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It true." lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I the house with me." sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out "My Mary? Impossible!" you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other "'Ten to two.' then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in the bottom.' were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "My private note-paper." "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary "'Which dealer's?' "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait "Well, it is a possible supposition." away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." "No." pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was me what he had done with the three missing stones. Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the away into the river." Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can the Red-headed League." sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case several quiet little villages up there." "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so fish-monger and a tide-waiter." considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have "Yes." "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, voice, changing her seat as requested. "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I shoulder; "he's all right." "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis address. myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." "The rest you will leave in our hands." have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought cheerful." said I. leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the morning." "No." give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the not, dad?" she asked. "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining is worth.' with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution mystery may be cleared along those lines." winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I "And for present expenses?" to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and "Murdered?" the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs "We must have a cab." tassel actually lying upon the pillow. customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." which are rolled in Rotterdam." a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. have been better. It is all right." dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to "And it is--" wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, better grown goose." Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. upon the shelf for the interim." "How did you deduce the select?" firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. Lee, in the county of Kent." "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs from you?" situation." deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. "Precisely." assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice to tackle the facts." "'I am sure that I do not know.' was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind "And how did you verify them?" a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on "Which surely he restored to their owner?" of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you about. "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening "Upon what point?"