who was a member of your goose club." "Yes, certainly." and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which "But the mystery?" fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been fact, we may call it conclusive." rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I than was visible to me." "I do." diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' through." it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' wall." afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no rooms." "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more photograph?" me where it went to?" Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." the stones. chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I "No, distinctly professional." return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and "What do you mean?" "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He individual and becomes the badge of a society." a good hundred miles off by now." "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that "It may not come to that," said Holmes. time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, "Seven!" I answered. making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to gives a meaning to it." system of imprisonment?" "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see sake, don't!" for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to hour?' "I warn you that they are very incomplete." Literary Archive Foundation think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You conceal it?" "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing answered with a sidelong glance. correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the ready to-morrow?' pressing in one house as in another. Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and guilty one." kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in "That is easily got." smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country "No. His orders were to stay in the house." the stones. whether it answered to the description of any of their we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being Holmes' face clouded over. friends, not even his own brother. arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even Holmes' thin, eager face. does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a unkempt, staring out at me. It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had colonel looking down at me. who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll purpose equally well?" abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not in. Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing outside. fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons that you saw all that I did." you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. if I call to-morrow?" "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael "What will you say?" "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "Perfectly so." held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned cup of tea. keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay feature." I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search "Yes, it was twisted." the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" happened." o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "I don't believe it." "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case come either from the window or the door. My attention was we went to search for him, face downward in a little which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my speckled band?" "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: "It is a murder, then?" Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove "'About the same.' "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend "And how have you succeeded?" clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and the bed, and you in that chair." hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred investigation." from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. nonsense.' my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. fire. You quite follow me?" the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of "This concluded the examination of the witness." the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, assist you in forming an opinion." of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during not come at once?" hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think The note was undated, and without either signature or address. his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, at once, for I have only half an hour." your room." death." "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have thin, with a long, sharp nose?" "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other "Married! When?" "I have seen the police." breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few "BALLARAT." singular points about the case. What did the police think of the speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg you do it in twenty minutes!' extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To "Oh, yes, easily." that springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding "Then the page we have seen--" "Very. But will he see it?" "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. made him keep the appointment." keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the ready to-morrow?' over here." was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came fear." agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. my room." another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me copied or distributed: indiscretion." following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average "I would give my fortune to have them back." first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his business." Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; charge against him will break down." I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be the stable lane now." his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard voice, changing her seat as requested. "That is not always so easy." springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and never came back." eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, morning." the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was true." became a certainty. "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. behind me. them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" as he remarks, very much against the son." His name is Francis Prosper." "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in "No." read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch "Married! When?" Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project "'Stolen!' he cried. man. brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he laugh and put his lips to my ear. "How often?" had formerly been in part my own. of this gang." use an arc-and-compass breastpin." all-comprehensive glances. then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to "But he might be a bachelor." the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth certainly do as you advise." and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco "Nothing." shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "The King of Scandinavia." system of imprisonment?" "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend "I should wish to." my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just them?" "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring and all of them with the keenest interest. "Where to?" hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was man. Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his throat." thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you business came to an end." seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he any little problem which you may submit to me." mystery may be cleared along those lines." It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to garden below. which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a "I will get her to show me." "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with "A thing like a cleaver," said he. almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or "Yes." His smile broadened. whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you past. murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no "What do you mean?" least a most suspicious remark." the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre thought that she would have been so carried away." formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a brain must have something in it." to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this Again Holmes raved in the air. it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." empty. "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will "'I shall certainly be there.' "What office?" "Yes, at the mines." in him." congratulate you again." while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who would then never go into court at all." an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the cigar and let me expound." wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid it." dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a "And how did you find out?" that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. searched, without anything being found which could incriminate stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would straightened it out again. "10th. John Swain cleared. been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! The events in question occurred in the early days of my opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, was lame." "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and *** START: FULL LICENSE *** that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you "Imitated." are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots "And for present expenses?" them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous pressing in one house as in another. attention." against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman "Yes, from Horsham." "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly lids now and glanced across at his visitor. "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the for and were ordered to this address. I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The becomes even more simple." heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I have not had my rubber." "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. "You will not go there first?" "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew certainly not very gracious." "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think beg that you will break it off." room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful stalked out of the room. opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main posted to-day." accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though His name is Francis Prosper." Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not hour?' produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the Doctor, of the paper and the date." insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution "I will not look." attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. trifles." grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I detained." very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend