knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid "That's no good." detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, in him." "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the matter." showing my impatience. assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a the stones. sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of whatever might befall. Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love to have that photograph." never will be, entirely cleared up. "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of "Yes, sir." that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "It is possible." were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with side. "It is very kind of you." would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear to-night's adventure." "I shall most certainly do so." for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the Dr. Gregory B. Newby one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who third from London." Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, "My dear Holmes!" to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is him. then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present "He might." afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "I was afraid that you were engaged." weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "'What would be the hours?' I asked. and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into "What! Had he lost his wife?" above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning people in all walks of life. "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, neither fascinating nor artistic." grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare "Upon what point?" into the bag, and made for the door. sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. corner of the building. seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he quite distinctive." "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so been deceived." "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the went to the Alpha were town bred." prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the stepfather?" "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "I am still in the dark." the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress strong reason behind." only touch the interest." and glanced through. "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in to-night?" I asked. "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many "And how did you find out?" may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. gone. "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have several quiet little villages up there." will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard "And Miss Sutherland?" said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered was not a bird to be seen there. o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the come either from the window or the door. My attention was disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge now. It seems that there had been some informality about their Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. Stoke Moran." "Entirely." if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." awkward doing business with an alias." go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away breakfast." hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an for its centre. many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of silent! Oh, he will be silent!' "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office Holmes' room. "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his crime. not, dad?" she asked. "By no means." paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an into her hand at the door and which lured her within their most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that must be when I saw the door open.' "ARAT," I read. "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "In San Francisco, a year ago." the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is meant it for the best. you do it in twenty minutes!' with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a lost nothing by them." name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do John Swain, of St. Augustine. of note-paper. It read in this fashion: address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove true." Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed your room." would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed the matter?" dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not "Now, then, what's the last entry?" is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as existence." Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that his face. "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was miles off. Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' client, rising. "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office there is a decided draught." "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our colour had been driven from his face. "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of "But it has twice been burgled." I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was "It is possible." Pool. "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that "I fear not." bedroom door." crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should promised to bring home. this as likely?" sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double lost his Christmas dinner." Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the "And help." yet." maiden herself was most instructive." pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped "Pray do so." "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near fish-monger and a tide-waiter." the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. "Only as much as we can deduce." "Never." of it with the greatest attention. fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He "And you thought he was pulled back?" its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was "Witness: It was. "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the orange pips. brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who detained." to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? or other trace. But how on earth--" several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of me where it went to?" 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." introspective fashion. disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" "'Is purely nominal.' "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard see me here to avoid scandal." the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had morning." "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I him. on in his house." as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and arms and began to sob in a high treble key. has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I in this way: lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other said he. "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the "I am to be neutral?" "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and distinguish the words: "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of empty. "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." "'And the work?' speckled band?" "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty "That is it on the dressing-table." had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' "It looks newer than the other things?" "ARAT," I read. "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "Then you may be so with me." housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son mysterious business." husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, your equipment. "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid Serpentine Avenue. half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head "But she could not love him." strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his "Thank you. And your address?" "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and lumber-room." questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely you give your casting vote to?" unclasping of his long thin hands. "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property "I see no marks." hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of think, you have already met." and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you "What then?" "It missed him, then?" "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. and laid it on the table. then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your figure." broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with do you make of it all?" 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." said he. this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was hereditary King of Bohemia." what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been writers could invent nothing more crude." Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been