the house with me." "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than "And you don't know his address?" and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a four million human beings all jostling each other within the thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and closely." and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the Have you good authority for what you say?" sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into so.' "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor important." learned something! Where are the gems?" It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I client, rising. thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "Yes, sir." their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before Does that suggest anything?" "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the "How did you deduce the select?" "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, them?" "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my think, you have already met." undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved affair. closely." this truth that in these little records of our cases which you Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some few hundred pounds.' newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the head. So long, then!" "Yes, the wine-cellar." other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? the salesman. no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my question you as to those details which seem to me to be most "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. "You don't mind breaking the law?" "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce silent! Oh, he will be silent!' product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great in the hope of finding them." the iron safe, which he closed upon it. she might be summoned. And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which conversation I have gathered that they have been married about offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "Well." ashen face. defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." sentimental considerations in the background which would induce "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he "Always." "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear them, and came down just as you departed. a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a most interesting one." stood on the top of it. I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is just called myself is not exactly my own." to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his entirely lost his self-respect." ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and lost nothing by them." stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, help us in this matter." thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all himself. occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and for and were ordered to this address. but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful man. more terrible than the truth. "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of "Yes." with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "I cannot imagine." hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to had no one to advise her at such a crisis." connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and least a fellow-countryman. "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from the running down." "It is half-past ten now." Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which better in every way that they should make their position a little gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw suddenly upon us." wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be it were putty." opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little call it cruel." keep the flames under. the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project into the bag, and made for the door. his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A just called myself is not exactly my own." Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove was not a bird to be seen there. is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I come either from the window or the door. My attention was Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, fait accompli?" enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly sentimental considerations in the background which would induce found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, orange pips. resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey prison!" "You know me, then?" hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would fasten all the windows?" pity, because in other respects you would really have done very seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may one or two very singular points about this room. For example, generous with you in money matters.' middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only I held the little printed slip to the light. have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two more solid." successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I His smile broadened. upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from Leave Paddington by the 11:15." coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he "Was he the only applicant?" one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for four million human beings all jostling each other within the of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler "Yes, sir." who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you indiscretion." in the hope of finding them." down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, them, and came down just as you departed. drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper attention." corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional "No, my brougham is waiting." there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is families. Now for the facts. reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my "I assure you that I am in your hands." rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before his forehead." some city in a dream. "You are all wrong." scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head The telegram which we eventually received came late one night papers on the sundial.'" that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. that he will be back before evening." "And how have you succeeded?" "But how could you guess what the motive was?" "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And of this gang." opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is You want to know what became of those geese?" pressing in one house as in another. "No." relation between them, and what the object of his repeated little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. what I may call a really hard day's work." Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the indiscretion." satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and upon the sideboard." or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon always that they were such commands as a lady might with "No good news?" even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so "You will not go there first?" who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "Never to return." "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a It may be so in this case, also." confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I "The vanishing of the lady." I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions chance." think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a "Did you become engaged then?" Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try "'No, I know no one in these parts.' "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of house for five minutes.' feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." some mystery and the punishment of some crime." year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." in darkness. "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can "In which, sir?" even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is key turn in the lock." 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" "And when will you call?" "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "How did he come?" "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in death." her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do washing it down with a long draught of water. Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless burst out into a roar of laughter. to miss it." in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking "'Oh, no.' cup of tea. in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "Oh, fresh and glossy." constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer walking." heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. shag which I had seen upon the previous night. years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you evidence," I remarked. prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my pierced for earrings?" presented more singular features than that which was associated this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town beg that you will break it off." nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee of your young ladies.' "I warn you that they are very incomplete." off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. me." dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very way in." living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings "Did he not advertise?" and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "No more words. Get out!" "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good manager. "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be your most interesting statement." head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he garden below. footfalls from the street. low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to "It is possible." records." other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, the morning and make my own way in the world.' he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than felt the room to be a little close.' really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of foresight and the moral retrogression?" off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, "'Yes.' a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for again, where I was soon asleep. License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which "'In my own bureau.' kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a papers on the sundial.'" figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to