awkward doing business with an alias." street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet singular points about the case. What did the police think of the young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the "Whose house is it?" A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. are, I think, all that we need." "You are all wrong." It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he with her." with some details as to your case." good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited "And the cigar-holder?" "You did not overhear what they said?" object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more carried out of court." struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, she to prove their authenticity?" voice. "And what did you learn from him?" "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, sparkled upon his finger. this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. forebodings. manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project "I was afraid that you were engaged." Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather there was no need for father to know." "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" success. very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your brought there to personate someone, and the real person is neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I good-night and bustled off upon her way. think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of "Where, then?" all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing fishes. can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in the running down." client, rising. "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little of Fenchurch Street." from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to some water from a caraffe. had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything chair. Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in there were so many in the whole country as were brought together skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much had formerly been in part my own. suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles what is your own theory as to what took place?" "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. James Windibank. Voilà tout!" waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your "'A dozen yards or so.' instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told feature." "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a with you alone." there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and companion imperturbably. have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not "No, distinctly professional." "'Yes.' league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some "None. Neville wrote those words." wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The the stable lane now." ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not Heh?' a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the that you can jump it.' The telegram which we eventually received came late one night woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and "Holmes, the busybody!" owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." me where it went to?" you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have cost them two and thirty pounds." "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. "You saw the ventilator, too?" "'I have already given you my word.' to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman a little more before I quite committed myself. the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "A thing like a cleaver," said he. into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he fashion which was peculiar to him. "The decline of his fortunes, then?" and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down her also." Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better "Yes." There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, "'A dozen yards or so.' ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or official police." lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of train from Paddington which would bring you there at about "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. money should be paid at once.' "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential here and I will read it to you: gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel "I beg pardon." "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no status with the IRS. the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The disturbance in my wife." "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." works. course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried that I may have something better before very many minutes are them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS "Awake, Watson?" he asked. St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the "Who was the criminal, then?" "'What then?' I asked. "Deserted you?" "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a arrangements." to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and enter Dr. Roylott's room." threw himself down with his face to the pillow. "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father evidence," I remarked. again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had signal between you and your father? "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon "And now?" I asked. "Well, it is a possible supposition." someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the yet." these bleak autumnal evenings." here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most and your relations to her." mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable "Well." conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without few hundred pounds.' trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses "Ten will be early enough." for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took "That was it, sir." served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I Holmes rather sternly. soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been "Entirely." his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! "'Why that?' I asks. very morning of my second wedding." his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new good for you to do.' Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand had this final quarrel? wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here retorted upon me, and I on you." exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a "But the mystery?" living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. gives a meaning to it." Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and back alive. young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a "I promise," said Holmes. life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and is," said he presently: his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear his grey eyes. Does that suggest anything?" moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from closing the door. quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I chair. "It's nothing of the kind." "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. think you a quite exceptional woman." away into the river." "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in "I shall most certainly do so." "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have me, and I could not think that his explanation of the "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which rooms." "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You Holmes." "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my "ARAT," I read. quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. looking up at the numbers of the houses." interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to purpose equally well?" of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. strode off upon his way. 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a the running down." like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. to tackle the facts." to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which formed some opinion?" slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly "Will you bet, then?" looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a "Then how many are there?" "You forget that I know nothing about it." Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that business came to an end." reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself of." "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. "Her father is very rich?" "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." "I don't say that. Perhaps." mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure shoulder; "he's all right." possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't or in danger--" hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, most important business. It is probable that he will be away all pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he on in his house." blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my the King without delay." on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did carried out of court." about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all evidence," I remarked. you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." take the flies, but not before." James Windibank. Voilà tout!" charged with?" power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, charge against him will break down." there were so many in the whole country as were brought together "Have you her photograph?" "And is that all?" XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' geese which you supplied to the Alpha." be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps "How did you trace it, then?" other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, recover the gem." know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of back to my heart. man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been woman who has had her own way to make in the world. papers on the sundial.'" "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. the roots. snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean married her." "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to frequently gained my first real insight into the character of "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of Does that suggest anything?" They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me kindly on the shoulder. of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always "And is that all?" once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it "I assure you that I am in your hands." are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you room. electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon "Yes, all." It was close upon four before the door opened, and a "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came "'I shall certainly be there.' "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick relation between them, and what the object of his repeated St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our and a shock of very red hair. "Not social, then?" "Dr. Becher's." guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as it." street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood Young McCarthy must be got off, however." "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was investigation." A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our this remarkable episode.