opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the door?" "To an end?" ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, until night should bring an explanation. think that any burglar could have done. the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with own family. his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood "I think that it is very probable." took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very were unconscious?" as this. Pray let me have the details." reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were "'Yes, it was gone.' shag which I had seen upon the previous night. "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination very old mansion. "'You cannot say what it was?' realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "I see no marks." man. I know him from the photograph." present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab "That is unusual in a young girl." "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is the dangers which encompass me." pierced for earrings?" little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." problems help me to do so." zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and Pope's Court, Fleet Street." whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and waste of energy." said he at last. downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an "It may not come to that," said Holmes. last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything carried out of court." been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. exactly what you advise." little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my woman who has had her own way to make in the world. room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project it." "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the "I will do it." see me here to avoid scandal." consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and character. "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters Miss Holder?" grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small cigars in their mouths. a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. since then to throw any light upon what became of him." turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my "Yes." his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and again before evening." "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until them present such singular features as the strange train of conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect there were one or two details which were new to me. But the "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I trifles." was used.' Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did we went to search for him, face downward in a little "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed country, and eventually married, without anyone having a upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in "And I to find an enemy." laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and means taking possession of that which another person has a prior Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. answered with a sidelong glance. "'I have already given you my word.' stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of tassel actually lying upon the pillow. very old mansion. an introduction to him?" severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord telegram would bring me down to your help." do.' was a loud and authoritative tap. ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." at once, for I have only half an hour." about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You details." "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very I am not easy in my mind about them." days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events "I am still in the dark." villagers almost as much as their master. "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me must be when I saw the door open.' the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis that I may have something better before very many minutes are back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he "'Most admirably.' grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door "We must have a cab." "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." that I can to serve you." said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." congenial hunt. then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from this unhappy family?" of campaign. that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must "What have you done?" asked Holmes. a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would touch that coronet?' from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the "No bad?" "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." said he at last. day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful is worth.' Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the think you a quite exceptional woman." the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by "'Yes, it was gone.' the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security not, dad?" she asked. formed some opinion?" dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know or other trace. But how on earth--" when you have done it." states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with hardly wander." His smile broadened. business?" "Married! When?" was the fact that his father should, according to his account, signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll questioning and rather startled gaze. electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers and the whole place is in a blaze." errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever husband's writing, madam." over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, "When did it break out?" the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt "The Cedars?" which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. "I cannot think." this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. "You did not overhear what they said?" fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' giving me time to thank him. had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes friends, not even his own brother. always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "We must have a cab." She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was "No?" fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she tied." over here." I. seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at Young McCarthy must be got off, however." should be taken.' screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." you." It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, room?" "Nor running a chance of arrest?" freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I ashen face. in the port of London." "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said this man was intellectual?" cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And strength of mind to control. companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question "And what did you learn from him?" very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to to go into your room and bar your shutters?" doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what congratulate you again." an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He "Yes, all." one else, I think." array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are the bottom.' arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I the tragedy. "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will "But it has twice been burgled." "What?" connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, foresight and the moral retrogression?" time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered shall use the carriage to-night." away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he she slowly sank and died without having recovered her a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside American. Then who could this American be, and why should he lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any such person." together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into highly," said Holmes. "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less towards the blaze. be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain "There are none." when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The one or two very singular points about this room. For example, save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more that I can to serve you." I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt "I assure you that I am in your hands." "None." at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year "Perhaps we may make them less so." inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." "Eh? What was that?" "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes done what I asked you, Jones?" once more to my work. "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." could not have written that. It is the German who is so "Now, then, what's the last entry?" "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' with the outside air!" my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the that before taking the final step I should like to submit the "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of instituted." "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great cigars in the box." refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "'Yes, sir.' exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten tied." directly by questioning you." "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss brought there to personate someone, and the real person is "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." "Where, indeed?" my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend guilty parties." "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon once more on the important position which you have been fortunate wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole with her." moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not ill-usage at the hands of fortune. thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in that he will be back before evening." if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" so far?" were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go lectures into a series of tales." by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom "It came here." "So I heard. You have him here?" points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did round with crates and massive boxes. showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this "Witness: It was. among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he "Precisely." In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, "And the murderer?" human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like The telegram which we eventually received came late one night goes." "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by come either from the window or the door. My attention was with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his happened." knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible