"We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have I think that I could be of assistance to you." conclusions. these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was to tell." every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to tell him that I know him to be innocent." emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave furiously. "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, you?' "Very. But will he see it?" since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project congratulate you again." "What office?" age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at go back?" cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was test if we have an answer to our advertisement." "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very "Dr. Becher's." lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was "What do you mean?" "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most weary and pale-looking. house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, particular state visit http://pglaf.org in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." in. police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, golden eyeglasses. to-night's adventure." "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the "My last client of the sort was a king." "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of have I gained?" weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about shaken than I had ever seen him. "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "Which surely he restored to their owner?" he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a is worth.' marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, upon an income of about 60 pounds." might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a key of the affair now." formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning "You have it, sir, just as it happened." against a man in the prime of life?" and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I "How on earth--" reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and appeal." he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few rooms." "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. everything which you would wish to know." sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, note?" some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. affection." "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a "Pray continue your narrative." She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well "'Not at all. I only doubt--' labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham "Thank you. Pray proceed." until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he that he will be back before evening." strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, must compliment you." ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you "In what way?" asked Holmes. you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, "I would pay ten." in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is second." "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange house for five minutes.' weighed down with some great anxiety. Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent fuss that is made over them." "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be than was visible to me." "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in you in yours." put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." "At half-wages, in fact." gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one over part of the map. "What do you read?" read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His "Your French gold?" fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of "You are all wrong." at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in envelope. "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that to his chemical studies. "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I are, and they are waiting for us." considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She strength." said he. have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by said he, "my real name is James Ryder." "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At "You have but to name it." had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for "I assure you that I am in your hands." brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously "Yes, certainly." Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS "I should be immensely obliged to you." business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore to have that photograph." deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in charged with?" against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and in him." profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which "'As governess?' actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at point in the dark hollow of his hand. reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are the coronet at all injured?" at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the pity, because in other respects you would really have done very done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it next day. A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible page at http://pglaf.org "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge carpenter." you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a It was close upon four before the door opened, and a reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was "You heard nothing yourself last night?" All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to who was a member of your goose club." "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some that?' swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of just ask you whether you had heard it.' he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he feature." "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us for its centre. boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was have not had my rubber." advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser results." Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring is entirely a question of barometric pressure." from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows "The best possible." England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall without a word or a look. assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the "Your presence might be invaluable." the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and "And your mother is alive?" intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I Munro.' "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low events than those which have happened in my own family." used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who of." take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "You have but to name it." are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon "'Quite sure, dad.' particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was if she died from some sudden fright." the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what "But she will refuse." Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me nice household for a young lady." think you a quite exceptional woman." it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, the inquest, and which are worth considering." "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something "ARAT," I read. years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I "Certainly." the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a presume?" "But who is he?" "Was there a secret marriage?" down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." you want, then?' "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He "Yes." "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. good for you to do.' "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a DAMAGE. for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and a monotonous occupation." "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some "But what harm can there be in that?" which we had just quitted. nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet "Yes, it would be as well." "Yes, they were peculiar boots." eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at "'Why that?' I asks. wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without me. You must get home instantly and act." "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the problems help me to do so." The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had "And what then?" accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts?