and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she that you saw all that I did." "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they "What then?" upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed in the dead of the night?' where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry awaited us upon the table. dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." power." considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, me." "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled and a shock of very red hair. you want, then?' visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, possible that we could bring him back to her? or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was "Oh, yes, easily." for securing the situation." my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. feature." before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step "Yes, they were peculiar boots." fattened it expressly for you.' whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their affection." with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his "Well, but China?" crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk "Nothing." "What shall I do?" In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after your billet.' it." him to be an active member of the medical profession." read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass test if we have an answer to our advertisement." reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go helping a boy to put up the shutters. trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found I shall continue with my miserable story. very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making yourselves in at night?" out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "You have but to name it." WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the "'What do you call purely nominal?' "Then, as to money?" a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of "By train from Waterloo." foot. 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the main points of my analysis." He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as "No, but the enclosure is." "Yes, sir." THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "What! Had he lost his wife?" smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, second window is the one that I jumped from." "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her companion. dear old homesteads?" certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp not come at once?" for the market.' He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. of note-paper. It read in this fashion: done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. him to be an active member of the medical profession." certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will written. the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You "Oh, yes, easily." wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. "But the mystery?" "No sign of it?" redistribution. "No?" old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce the running down." any." line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, south, for the country is more deserted there." "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "Get out!" said he. your most interesting statement." engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in prison!" paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This "You don't mind breaking the law?" have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." "Was he the only applicant?" set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, to talk it over. were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other woven round him. fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. "'About the same.' which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the be there in time for your coming." "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in were unconscious?" furiously. ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS "Come in!" said he. gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, think that he is innocent?" I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried "'What then?' I asked. way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting said I. upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I held up the lantern and gazed about him. "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this delighted to hear it," he said. astonishment. nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them then?" it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a "What have you to say now?" assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to spare." "Nor running a chance of arrest?" look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She whatever might befall. "So I heard. You have him here?" distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern people don't know." finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a the address that was given us in the advertisement. examination of the premises, but without finding anything which "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "What, then?" to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" "It is true that I have been generally successful." overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for "What can you not understand?" forecastle of an emigrant ship. "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. meant." matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included rooms." humiliation." "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was child?' "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is do.' across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up "'Ten to two.' Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which "No." vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a clang of the bell. am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. with frightened eyes at his accuser. your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he your most interesting statement." The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him "Then I shall certainly come." fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute she slowly sank and died without having recovered her with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "Where did you address your letters, then?" Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. and put his glass in his pocket. charged with?" "Well?" hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, little trying to do so much typewriting?" girl said." adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which following enigmatical notices: silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles "'Not at all. I only doubt--' foresight and the moral retrogression?" had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. done what I asked you, Jones?" quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. begun to whiten, even as mine has." next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the you do it in twenty minutes!' less than 26s. 4d. "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "Yes, at the mines." "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full begin with, and I had not got mine yet." "Nothing." to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H respectable self." assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age to some other building. ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an present." the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you relation between them, and what the object of his repeated he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet narrative." call you and give you the chance." still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his wedding?" very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our questioning and rather startled gaze. singular points about the case. What did the police think of the squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "No?" "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand acted in my house last night?" suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent guilty parties." "I have come for advice." "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "No more words. Get out!" got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be asked with his eyes open. took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less arrangements." It may be so in this case, also." undoubtedly my uncle's." I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a "But what harm can there be in that?" stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." stalked out of the room. come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack joking. "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" to you." maiden herself was most instructive." on in his house." diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an breakfast and whispered something to her husband. lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the directly by questioning you." his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of "'Ten to two.' again on its way. grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in started for the Temple to see my husband. back into the street. tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a row." stalked out of the room. "Certainly." the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask thin legs towards the fire. You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to frequently gained my first real insight into the character of out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch "And who is her maid?" "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, least a fellow-countryman. delighted to hear it," he said. "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there threw himself down with his face to the pillow. "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our "On your arm?" which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his was already answered. arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal "We were both in the photograph." eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing "That is easily got."