air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "Pray tell us what has happened to you." "But you were on a friendly footing?" "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but until night should bring an explanation. "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. do.' the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, imbecility!" he cried. footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall Pope's Court, Fleet Street." inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried "Dr. Becher's." Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you south, for the country is more deserted there." America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I crackling voice. step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you who was a member of your goose club." of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me following enigmatical notices: moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I congenial hunt. course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me lectures into a series of tales." her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. them?" It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish room. indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. prisoner's face. crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk "To ruin me." Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to province." have established a very serious case against the son of the endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "Just look it up, then." lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, away into the river." Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, "What can you not understand?" souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind "I don't believe it." respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in "Yes. He waved his hands." you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager "I have come for advice." "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to simple cases which are so extremely difficult." claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." opportunities to fix the problem. Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "I am following you closely," I answered. saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I fat-encircled eyes. paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced "But you can know nothing of this?" the armchair which I pushed forward for him. purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may charge against him will break down." the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of examine." "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. Pope's Court, Fleet Street." advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the "Do you go out much in society?" those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of "They are typewritten," I remarked. which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and Chief Executive and Director Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am ready to-morrow?' country, and eventually married, without anyone having a not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a with frightened eyes at his accuser. they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of secret." "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the "The doctor?" who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have really the only notable feature about the thing." makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when what do you think they found in the pockets?" lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple depend upon your compliance." and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of "It was a confession," I ejaculated. a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy events than those which have happened in my own family." "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a four million human beings all jostling each other within the prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done things are very often connected not with the larger but with the against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in that threaten you." "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he present." an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, three fields round his house, and there he would take his foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and his grey eyes. person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was "Quite so." certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away Watson," he said cordially. "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our read over the extraordinary announcement. story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped I leave." "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to light and attacked it." residence of the great financier. "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone without success. At last the little money which I had saved began research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two extraordinary contortions. hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking to talk it over. satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, "I am about to be married." flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come lamp in his hand. "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how not interfere, come what may. You understand?" immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very could not have written that. It is the German who is so morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my mystery may be cleared along those lines." brandy and water within his reach. my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been "Yes." of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, "I think that I had better go, Holmes." registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can to surprise her." They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets which I could not give. He asked for Alice. that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the "And who is her maid?" "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to "'Very good.' perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while cigar and let me expound." showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while "Did you become engaged then?" eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or bachelor.' arrangements." my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at 1.E.9. importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the maiden herself was most instructive." passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might "Look there!" said he. Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their "Certainly." blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements writer." successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, come either from the window or the door. My attention was face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the him!" coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had do.' me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I skylight. know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might intrusion of other matters." certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and "'Never,' said I. akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." outsides of the windows. there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all this as likely?" his fortune, and I went back to pa. from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he beg that you will break it off." front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day "No?" get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I coat-tails." thin, with a long, sharp nose?" "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, meanly of me." it? Did I buy the geese off you?" "No legal papers or certificates?" William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and that you can jump it.' that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this one or two very singular points about this room. For example, "Really! You surprise me." away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire pierced for earrings?" o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would "The landlord of the Alpha." her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was "'Certainly not. But why?' by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. call for protection in the marriage market, for the present father's young wife. Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or it." "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening sofa. This way, please!" "Just look it up, then." cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He were unconscious?" again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally disturbance in my wife." finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible recall any case within my experience which looked at the first "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never "I never have." purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my mystery may be cleared along those lines." contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You "It is a murder, then?" "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" papers on the sundial.'" ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a McCarthy." "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, salesman. compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back late." upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very "We must have a cab." "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and past. have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the Watson," he said cordially. in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have "Stolen." "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time closing the door. remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of in darkness. can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all appeal." "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the Leadenhall Street--and--" chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were