"There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered sofa. This way, please!" "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black without a word or a look. out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in one or two very singular points about this room. For example, Street. supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and experiences." gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in front of me. heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and "Was he the only applicant?" finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "'Why that?' I asks. adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The http://gutenberg.net/license). so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had question," said Holmes, smiling. that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was get the tickets." matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." sneer upon his pale face. bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his "10th. John Swain cleared. "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, "One of the highest in England." play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, "'Never,' said I. by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is "My opinion is in no way altered." so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is crackling voice. "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their "And why?" upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle "Not I." very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling with the outside air!" constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. It may be so in this case, also." Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and "What have you done?" asked Holmes. "But you would not advise me to refuse?" "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as "It was an hour's good drive." a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect asked. "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the "What then?" correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at "Yes." "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a as yours." to you." had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she detained." the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the "I don't say that. Perhaps." quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. "Certainly." his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to papers on the sundial.'" year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which "'Most admirably.' "One of his hands." said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. highroad, where all traces were lost. "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save train.' To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel "Then you may be so with me." the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to "And the cigar-holder?" to affect your life." way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case friend's singular character. "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would you for a few hours?" and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching the station." "'Yes, sir.' comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was were new raised from a basin. a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's key turn in the lock." "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the "I say that I have solved it." to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both "And Miss Sutherland?" "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a Edgeware Road. "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor one of them." where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he foresight and the moral retrogression?" ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person disappearance of the bride.'" ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had felt?" when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, light and attacked it." he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. and files of the old papers, following the future career of every "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so throat." "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced fait accompli?" he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a even of instruction." logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I "Then you may entirely rely on me." "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. way: "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the "Yes, sir." golden eyeglasses. suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us in the dead of the night?' neither fascinating nor artistic." main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve "You will not go there first?" However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just the child." "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do astonishment. Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the him to be an active member of the medical profession." claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of "'I have already given you my word.' which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell "That you are never beaten." room?" backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave "Yes, he did." south, for the country is more deserted there." "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as delighted to hear it," he said. "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' door?" slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly "Not him." "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the interest. They are important, you understand, without being answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite other means.' find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door infinite languor in his face. investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and "And how did you verify them?" and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked gone. out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was "Yes, they were peculiar boots." here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California "What! You do not mean bodies?" "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers "You will not go there first?" "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be in him." sooner or later she must fall a victim. "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" minor matters until to-morrow." "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be minor matters until to-morrow." there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these there." of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed weapon." Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your bore every mark of being an average commonplace British was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in allusion to a rat. once more to my work. and the colonel ushered me in. much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads some city in a dream. The summons was a brief and urgent one. and looked back. which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in direction." hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending promised to bring home. closely." The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the been with you?" firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more be.' "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be "Did you become engaged then?" least a most suspicious remark." written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his extraordinary contortions. three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my said I. "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, experiences." breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never "And what then?" "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an detective. "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. one else, I think." on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to it." tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with of them has the shutters up.' for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has you came in." "No?" George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. presume?" "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. carried out of court." province." "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been nonsense.' customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. woman who has had her own way to make in the world. with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a "I would give my fortune to have them back." the coronet in his hand?" to take care of herself." "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "Imitated." tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she is a common subject for conversation. minor matters until to-morrow." have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I possible that we could bring him back to her? usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform beg that you will break it off." touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite may have an influence upon European history." exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at on in his house." down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I