unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the our word." agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the "Nothing." creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered went to the Alpha were town bred." peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his charge against him will break down." the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are prisoner's face. never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "Yes, sir." "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. I have it here in my museum." struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy again before evening." would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this what I may call a really hard day's work." called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. Miss Holder?" coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or "The best possible." has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the the matter." and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the to-night?' not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "Will you go?" first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "And why in hopes?" then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can was a perfect sample of the class. figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases conceal it?" down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and in him." not interfere, come what may. You understand?" At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his "But she will refuse." through." yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg "Well?" "It is a murder, then?" utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own invisible to me," I remarked. distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the you?" "In heaven's name, what for?" heavily into it. though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture "Well." "Here?" "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and note?" freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to his wife has ceased to love him." expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, meanly of me." age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have October 9, 1890. people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you is so. I know all about McCarthy." web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a indeed happy." believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America ran thus: "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling have accepted such a situation. "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you Young McCarthy must be got off, however." clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous "How can you tell that?" which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in "Yes." he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of "Yes?" He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the Eyford at 11:15.' "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end place of silver." gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. "And is that all?" not interfere, come what may. You understand?" "Not I." horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet very peculiar words of the dying woman?" springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding call the police, let the police find what they can.' stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill "None. Neville wrote those words." for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It "What do you mean?" warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed been lifted and conveyed somewhere." "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & late." it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great could gather together that I was able to avert another public those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his said he, "my real name is James Ryder." thin legs towards the fire. certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The "But his lameness?" have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been "What do you mean?" writers could invent nothing more crude." circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "Then the page we have seen--" house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly "Tired-looking or fresh?" "At the wedding breakfast." was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" "I promise," said Holmes. to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to in. As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there was lame." nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a interests were the same as his." "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler enough to aid us in our search." from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy the loss of it. confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I would then never go into court at all." coat-tails." at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as photograph?" dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his http://gutenberg.net/license). colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated the Friday. Was it to be in church?" that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would his huge brown hands. "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became front of the hall door has given its name to the place. "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, of the efforts of the United States government and of the better solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this "When did she vanish, then?" nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, questioning and rather startled gaze. not as remarkable as your advertisement." on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was existence." assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is point our research must commence, and we will begin it by of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless quickly through a disagreeable task. his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow extraordinary contortions. wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. distinguish the words: derbies." months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. not use it unless it is absolutely needed." and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons "Yes, all." It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "Yes. He waved his hands." frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, made him keep the appointment." small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. bird I ate is country bred." among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a yourselves in at night?" "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it six. Come in!" take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old III. would then never go into court at all." scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other disappearance of the bride.'" homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind relation between them, and what the object of his repeated The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him I nodded again. deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between garden below. "It is his hat." agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few 1.F. "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. The summons was a brief and urgent one. closing the door. at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as James Windibank. Voilà tout!" "That was it, sir." King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "You'll never persuade me to believe that." lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all served to weaken the effect. round with crates and massive boxes. front of me. "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just "And how?" about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that man. routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "Certainly, madam." "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." "'Where to?' and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about she might be summoned. "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now unclasping of his long thin hands. showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one you?' "Then I am your man." It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises detective. "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." "That is it on the dressing-table." greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my "'Is 4 pounds a week.' "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this silent! Oh, he will be silent!' beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt round with crates and massive boxes. occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." for its centre. Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which should be so warm over such a trifle." thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." his knees, staring into the fire. course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of horse could go." I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" suggested at once that there must be a communication between the I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me before, for it was considerably after midnight. following enigmatical notices: acted in my house last night?" A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable until night should bring an explanation. One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." "No, my brougham is waiting." me." directly by questioning you." and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. "'And what are they worth?' I asked. Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied "A call for help, you thought?" "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated against a man in the prime of life?" "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' tapping his fingers upon the table. "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he