stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With gone. Munro.' thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see "And Irene Adler?" Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood such person." round and wave him away like that.' "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a this man was intellectual?" shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "Now, then, what's the last entry?" straightened it out again. my room." reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this me have 200 pounds?' I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had it? Did I buy the geese off you?" endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would stood on the top of it. "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a waste of energy." matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and know all about it," he snarled. "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the "Nothing." sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a the room while you explain this matter?" go from here to the Strand." agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to "I will get her to show me." "'I shall certainly be there.' itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that developed." "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, had no one to advise her at such a crisis." slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged events, Mr. Windibank!" "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of trifles." "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost The King stared at him in amazement. which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but whereabouts. plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such Sutherland. adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the with you alone." Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King his eyes and forehead. so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom begin with, and I had not got mine yet." had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this "I beg pardon." of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to that I may have something better before very many minutes are "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. it." its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" "Nothing." on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be shall use the carriage to-night." to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable "But what is it you wish?" you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! his huge brown hands. to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a My friend smiled. rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I "Ample." long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose purpose of examination. "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it "So I am. Very much so." conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. Holmes' room. "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the Project Gutenberg-tm works. anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I yourselves in at night?" then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what "At what time?" comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, go from here to the Strand." the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang entirely lost his self-respect." neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than your own bird, so if you wish--" Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the towards the blaze. over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into some terrible trap for her." equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His look dissatisfied." with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down then?" "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; "'Ten to two.' quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my "That is easily got." lids now and glanced across at his visitor. mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his intrusion of other matters." "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my was lame." having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your "No, thank goodness, she did not." "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." "Really! You surprise me." tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if "But I have heard all that you have heard." is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." a little more before I quite committed myself. think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the is worth.' "He is dead," cried several voices. test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a laugh and put his lips to my ear. do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the friend's singular character. Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had you found me to-night--and running through the front room she client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his "What of the rat, then?" she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. a suggestive one." some city in a dream. sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here writing, and yet I know it well." practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from the window, rose as we entered. has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment delighted to hear it," he said. "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own "Her father is very rich?" "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a helping a boy to put up the shutters. already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should our word." "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to which our visitor detailed to us. more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will Street. Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' My friend smiled. ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness "Which are?" formed some opinion?" those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and "'Quite sure, dad.' the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." "Frequently." side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the felt?" and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to and the church but not where the lady lived." at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long handed it to him. "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few handed it to him. object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his "No." "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. that there was nothing in it, after all." professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, meant it for the best. enough to aid us in our search." "What, then?" "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say existence." your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as "You did not overhear what they said?" who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." confronted him. room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the may have an influence upon European history." the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which without a word or a look. glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked bachelor.' the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and "Was there a secret marriage?" quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me "To an English lawyer named Norton." British peeress.'" daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, obstinate." "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is tell him that I know him to be innocent." than to us. himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I "We must sit without light. He would see it through the filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young charge against him will break down." "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. you." "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front "There is the writing." seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress "'I have heard so.' "In heaven's name, what for?" can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the you?' unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being sparkled upon his finger. "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a must compliment you." "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom mystery may be cleared along those lines." hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the answered with a sidelong glance. daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found dear old homesteads?" which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my cheerful." other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my copied or distributed: slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in bearing upon the case." written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the gone. as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though tapping his fingers upon the table. a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those "But his left-handedness." called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy congratulate you again." the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate signal between you and your father? "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his "And you thought he was pulled back?" dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was do you make of it all?" "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the "Your presence might be invaluable." impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at the salesman. "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke