appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of "You horrify me." so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that "But we can't all be." "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she a few minutes he said that it would be all right. India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He very peculiar words of the dying woman?" is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said astonishment. rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as "None. Neville wrote those words." really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." said Mr. Holder. what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "Of what day?" time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a "It is very kind of you." frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an "Yes, they were peculiar boots." expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one is now desirous of getting those letters back." never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his "What are they?" "Deserted you?" we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George read it out to me." the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this "'Very good.' Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers "My private note-paper." "What do you mean?" in your London, you will know that the office of the company is "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my good-night and bustled off upon her way. open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before the nursery. astonishment. Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's fluttered off among the others. her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they case-book, which he consulted. cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is "On your arm?" centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what gigantic client. very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there had this final quarrel? desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his there when the Rucastles went away." I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very "Oh, fresh and glossy." "'Yes.' younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." "Certainly." known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. one's self under obligations.' leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the His smile broadened. in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no her also." intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "'Stolen!' he cried. "'How far from the body?' table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever once more. passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a obstinate." "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your The telegram which we eventually received came late one night "To an English lawyer named Norton." heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a his wife has ceased to love him." connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is This is what he says: man. speckled band?" "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which where Mr. Fordham shows you.' bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social said I. B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I tail." "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to The telegram which we eventually received came late one night there has been an enclosure here!" pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea "Yes, but only for you and me." really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence in this note: Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug to surprise her." alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door upon a handsome competence. disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would "I cannot say that I have." refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. "We have tried and failed." you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that tapping his fingers upon the table. "Very. But will he see it?" "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a "Perhaps I have." through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident feature." order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said "The landlord of the Alpha." "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding particular state visit http://pglaf.org "Two days later this same performance was gone through under eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I him. I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm "My photograph." upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. families. Now for the facts. over with notes and figures. Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the infinite languor in his face. "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to how narrow had been my escape. License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several he died? with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a lids now and glanced across at his visitor. panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client name is different." "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium not as remarkable as your advertisement." with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such rat could hardly pass through." Doctor, of the paper and the date." I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go "None. Neville wrote those words." telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the there!' rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at shoulder. swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with indeed happy." "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked hurried away. St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them with you?" repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office gigantic client. collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow "Then I can wait in the next room." "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the held up the lantern and gazed about him. makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the crime." precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not yourselves in at night?" handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded "'Oh, no.' "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very Street. stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and the armchair which I pushed forward for him. civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's ventilator." George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between McCarthy." "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep October 9, 1890. fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." and the colonel ushered me in. "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." paper in the air. It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so the best of training." saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to had died away into the silence from which it rose. "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk My friend smiled. "I cannot tell." "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. a room. that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular and a shock of very red hair. "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "Then you may entirely rely on me." I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "Yes." Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I salesman. the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the *** START: FULL LICENSE *** have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." "Nearly eleven." "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, any more." "How did he come?" considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me sofa. This way, please!" "I shall be delighted." "I cannot as yet see any connection." bell. Holmes whistled. re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the to have been novel and of interest." we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should and it need not interfere very much with one's other endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and "That is not always so easy." "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. which it had come upon my father." shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which "He might." "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you your room." fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously "Holmes, the busybody!" concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and electronic works was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and "And how?" The note was undated, and without either signature or address. Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance might help us?" "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon "You will not go there first?" "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to until night should bring an explanation. which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" "The landlord of the Alpha." "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from ashen face. little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the "By all means." "Precisely." the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I morning." vague figure huddled up in the darkness. charge against him will break down." you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have spare." dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that hour?' the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you more solid." posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method my friend's incisive reasoning. "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot "'Stolen!' he cried. you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would the matter." defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the the warnings." to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of your sleep?' man. I know him from the photograph." events than those which have happened in my own family." I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp think you a quite exceptional woman." down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to States.