waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New and put his glass in his pocket. he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the For additional contact information: hour?' "And why?" concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' the little opening for the ventilator is." interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social IS there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew go from here to the Strand." charged with?" "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. so far?" speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that as he folded up the epistle. Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be go from here to the Strand." reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock this Miss Turner." "Yes, there are nearly always some there." Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the yet." "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an in your London, you will know that the office of the company is "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" brandy and water within his reach. It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I "Eh? What was that?" "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was to that open window." "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of everything which you would wish to know." think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have individual and becomes the badge of a society." expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered "I beg pardon." By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that wife's character?" met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most mysterious end." very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up "What! You do not mean bodies?" drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table "One of the highest in England." building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his introspective fashion. and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the present strange and interesting features that it is no easy "Get out!" said he. hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or bed dies. Does not that strike you?" empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "And you don't know his address?" "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of "Where did you address your letters, then?" was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "Yes, at the mines." finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to had a long day." again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and could not have written that. It is the German who is so child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. extraordinary contortions. of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on carriage. It was a chestnut." Pope's Court, Fleet Street." lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for "Not particularly." "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard meant." and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. your Highness to the police-station?" With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real matter." character. "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a simple cases which are so extremely difficult." the best of training." compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no asked with his eyes open. "Won't it ring?" stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs may have an influence upon European history." pictures, libraries, or plate. and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found village inn over there?" directors have had misgivings upon the subject." once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate "No, I had a dozen." no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. the nursery. your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our "And how did you find out?" "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it carriage. It was a chestnut." the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the fear." at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall fait accompli?" "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you during which he might have communicated with his friend the this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever outside." of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. the window, rose as we entered. from you?" Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." carriage. It was a chestnut." "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," "Ah!" When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You hour." and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I ran thus: arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." "I shall be delighted." problems help me to do so." to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington I approached. ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the photograph?" "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the one of the states of the Union." companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out "In answer to an advertisement." "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one joking. grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes "No, my brougham is waiting." something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. orange pips. and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who singular points about the case. What did the police think of the "Married! When?" his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to prove to be little relation between the different incidents of dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it "But how will you look?" Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a to where he stood hid behind the curtain. would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would I nodded to show that I had heard. I nodded to show that I had heard. "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with But Holmes shook his head gravely. the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him drove away. "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very "You forget that I know nothing about it." electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to several quiet little villages up there." has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. where we are going." who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put said I. meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the his face which made him a very different person to the round, where we are going." in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: cost them two and thirty pounds." green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from "But we can't all be." bill, which interests me deeply." "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a "He said that you could solve anything." and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he he died? help us in this matter." and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but "The rest you will leave in our hands." 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been "My stepfather's business papers." years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was said he. "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed "And did you observe any change in her then?" "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the "You forget that I know nothing about it." "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by power." "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary that there was nothing in it, after all." about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the "I would give my fortune to have them back." had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, that the gas is not laid on in his house?" "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened open." another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "This photograph!" considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no "None." train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching to a light-house. out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" papers." you." "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away place no limit on the sum I may draw." parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire "They are typewritten," I remarked. the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his "Yes, but only for you and me." he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was to have that photograph." defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with row." "But what will you do?" came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the directly by questioning you." Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they "I was afraid that you were engaged." a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some maid will bring up your coffee." "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of "Yes." reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." "'And what are they worth?' I asked. contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "He said that you could solve anything." blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely later, upon the night of May 2nd." a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies only touch the interest." any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't "But his lameness?" "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the come either from the window or the door. My attention was with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my Surrey." room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was your equipment. said I. that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." "Did you become engaged then?" "In answer to an advertisement." say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" "Then I am your man." Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I "One horse?" interjected Holmes. once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which o'clock is it?" "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked.